 Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) | |
 Interactive fullscreen map | |
| Established | 1723; 302 years ago (1723) |
|---|---|
| Location | Dresden,Germany |
| Coordinates | 51°3′10.1″N13°44′11.0″E / 51.052806°N 13.736389°E /51.052806; 13.736389 |
| Type | Art museum |
| Website | https://gruenes-gewoelbe.skd.museum/ |
TheGreen Vault (German:Grünes Gewölbe;pronounced[ˈɡʁyːnəsɡəˈʋœlbə]) is a museum located inDresden,Germany, which contains the largest treasure collection in Europe.[1] The museum was founded in 1723 byAugustus the Strong ofPoland andSaxony, and features a variety of exhibits in styles fromBaroque toClassicism. The Green Vault is named after the formerlymalachite green-painted column bases andcapitals of the initial rooms. It has some claim to be the oldest museum in the world; it is older than theBritish Museum, opened in 1759, but theKunstkamera in St. Petersburg, Russia was opened in 1714 and theVatican Museums date their foundation to the public display of the newly excavatedLaocoön group in 1506.
After thebombing of Dresden duringWorld War II, the Green Vault was completely restored. Today, its treasures are shown in two exhibitions: The Historic Green Vault (Historisches Grünes Gewölbe) is famous for its splendors of the historic treasure chamber as it existed in 1733, while the New Green Vault (Neues Grünes Gewölbe) focuses the attention on each individual object in neutral rooms.
The Green Vault is located on the first and second floors of the western section ofDresden Castle. It is now part of theDresden State Art Collections.
In 1547,Holy Roman electorMoritz of Saxony ordered the construction of an additional wing toDresden Castle. Four of the added rooms on the first floor of the palace were given elaborate, moldedplaster ceilings.[2] In these rooms, the column bases andcapitals were painted a bluish-green color. Due to this coloring, the rooms were referred to as the "Green Vault." The official name of these rooms, which were protected against fire and robbery by thick walls and iron shutters and doors, was "Privy Repository" (Geheime Verwahrung).[2][3]
Throughout the 17th century, the Privy Repository was used by the rulers of theElectorate of Saxony as a private treasure chamber for important documents and jewelry.[3] Then, between 1723 and 1729, the electorFrederic Augustus I, today referred to as Augustus the Strong, turned the private chambers into a public museum. First, he commanded splendid rooms to be created in which to display his collection. ThePretiosensaal (Hall of Treasures) and theEckkabinett (Corner Cabinet) were listed as completed in the inventory of 1725; they reached their present-day form in this construction phase.[4] An extension followed in 1727. Augustus’ intentions have been preserved on a ground plan from 1727 on which he drew his ideas.[4] As in the first construction phase, the architectMatthäus Daniel Pöppelmann planned and built a museum-like, artistic structure ofGerman Baroque grandeur.[5] A suite of eight interconnecting rooms was constructed whose architectural beauty complemented the abundance and quality of the priceless treasures. Augustus the Strong could now exhibit his entire collection of valuables, including bronze statues and works of art insilver,gold,amber andivory. The sequence of rooms was deliberately staged, presenting the objects according to their materials.[3] By the end of his almost four-decade-long reign in 1733, Augustus the Strong had made his crown treasures and his inherited riches accessible to the public – an unprecedented innovation in the Baroque period.
These rooms remained unchanged for almost two centuries. When war was imminent in 1938, the art treasures were taken to theKönigstein Fortress.[3]
The Green Vault was severely damaged in the February 13, 1945bombing of Dresden in World War II. Three of the eight rooms were totally destroyed.[3] At the end of the war in 1945, the treasures were confiscated by theRed Army and transported to theSoviet Union. After their return to Dresden in 1958, part of the collection was displayed at theAlbertinum.
In 2004, the New Green Vault was opened on the second floor of the rebuilt Dresden castle. Its modern style of presentation centers on the works of art. In 2006, the reconstructed Historic Green Vault was reopened in the magnificent suite of rooms on the first floor as it had existed in 1733 at the time of its founder's death.
On 25 November 2019, theGreen Vault was broken into, and three sets of early 18th century royal jewellery were stolen.[6] Each set consists of 37 items, made up ofdiamonds,rubies,emeralds, andsapphires.[7] It was estimated that the stolen items were worth up to 1 billioneuros (US$1.1 billion).[7]
In December 2022, investigators found 31 objects stolen in the 2019 burglary, reportedly after talks with the lawyers of six men on trial for the theft.[8]
In May 2023, five men were found guilty of the heist. The robbers were a part of the Remmo clan, a criminal clan that is involved in organised crime and conducted raids on a department store and a bank robbery. One of the thieves was also involved in the theft of a gold coin from theBode museum inBerlin.[9]
Prior to the 2019 heist, the collection consisted of over 4,000 pieces, with almost 1,100 on display in the New Green Vault and about 3,000 shown in the Historic Green Vault.[10][11]
Entrance to the Historic Green Vault requires advance purchase of tickets for a specific entry time slot. A limited number of tickets is also sold every morning. The New Green Vault can be visited at any time.
The Historic Green Vault has approximately 3,000 pieces of jewelry on display, including works in gold, amber, and ivory. Gemstone vessels and bronze statuettes are on display without showcases, in front of mirrored display walls.[12] The Historic Green Vault is located on the first floor of Dresden Castle, and spans roughly 2,000 square metres.
With these treasure chambers, Augustus the Strong realised his vision of a BaroqueGesamtkunstwerk (synthesis of the arts) as an expression of wealth and absolutist power. He presented his treasures to a select public, thus establishing the Green Vault as one of Europe's oldest museums.
The Historic Green Vault consists of nine rooms and one entrance chamber:
One of the most important statues in the collection is the "Moor with Emerald Cluster" (Mohr mit Smaragdstufe; also known as "Moor with Emerald Plate" or "Moor with Platter of Emeralds"). It was manufactured by the royal goldsmithJohann Melchior Dinglinger together withBalthasar Permoser, probably in 1724. The statue is 63.8 centimetres (2.09 feet) high and richly decorated with jewels.[13] It was created becauseAugustus the Strong wanted to exhibit a precious emerald cluster, studded with 16 dark green emeralds, in his newSchatzkammer museum. The emerald cluster, a "miracle of nature" which originally came from a Colombian mine, was given toElector Augustus byEmperor Rudolf II as a gift in 1581. The "moor" is actually an elegantly dressed South American Indian, who presents theColombian emerald cluster on a tray oftortoiseshell.[14]
TheJewel Garnitures (Juwelen-Garnituren) constitute the largest collection of jewels in Europe. They represented the monarchs' claim of absolute power. Here, the "Dresden White" or "Saxon White" (Sächsische Weiße), a 49.71-carat (9.942 g) carat cushion-shaped diamond, is on display.[15] Also unique is a 648-carat (129.6 g)sapphire, a present from czarPeter I of Russia.
Three of theJewel Garnitures were removed during a robbery on 25 November 2019. So far they have yet to be recovered.[16]
The jewel-studdedobeliskObeliscus Augustalis was made by Johann Melchior Dinglinger in 1719–21. The 2.28 metres (7.5 feet) high obelisk with 240 stones and figures was acquired by Augustus the Strong directly from Dinglinger's workshop.[17] This cabinet piece, conceived as an indoor monument, shows a portrait of Augustus the Strong at the centre of the monument. He is presented as a king revered by peoples fromclassical antiquity, as becomes obvious by the cameos of famous men and women from this classical period skillfully carved on the shaft of the obelisk.[14]
The New Green Vault contains works of the royal goldsmithJohann Melchior Dinglinger and other jewelry from the Baroque era. In total, there are roughly 1,100 pieces on display in the New Green Vault.[18] The New Green Vault is located on the second floor of the castle, and is roughly the same size as the Historic vault, at approximately 2,000 square metres.
The New Green Vault consists of 12 rooms:
The "Cherry Stone with 185 Carved Faces" was created before 1589 by an unknown artist, probably using amagnifying glass. Actually, only 113 faces can be distinguished on this cherry pit, which is integrated into an earring. This tiny work of art was given as a present toElector Christian I of Saxony in 1589.[19]
The "Large Ivory Frigate Supported byNeptune" was the last work of Jacob Zeller. It was completed in the summer of 1620, a few months before his death. The frigate, with a crew of almost 50 tiny sailors made of ivory, is supported by the god of the seas. One of the mainsails, also made of extremely thin ivory, displays the coat of arms of electorJohann Georg I and his wifeMagdalene Sibylle.[20]
The "Golden Coffee Service" presents the cups and saucers and sugar bowls on an elaborate pyramidal etagère surmounted by the coffeepot, all in enameled gold, a cabinet piece unique in Europe. Here, Dinglinger masterfully combines the most diverse artistic forms to produce an avantgarde work of art which can be regarded as one of the first manifestations of the fashion forchinoiserie. Augustus took the recently completed ensemble with him to Warsaw at Christmas 1701, to dazzle the nobles of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, of which he was the nominal ruler.[21]
"The Royal Household at Delhi on the Occasion of the Birthday of the Grand MogulAureng-Zeb" represents contemporary European fantasies of"Oriental despotism" inIndia. At the time, Augustus the Strong was under serious threat due to setbacks in theNordic Wars. In contrast, the Grand Mogul embodies the dream of absolute power and immeasurable riches. This masterpiece of European jewelers’ art comprises 4,909 diamonds, 164 emeralds, 160 rubies, a sapphire, 16 pearls and two cameos. It was created by the royal goldsmithJohann Melchior Dinglinger, his brothers and others, between 1701 and 1708. The elector paid almost 60,000talers for it, more than he did for the construction ofMoritzburg Castle.[22]
The "Bath of Diana" (or "Diana Bathing") was Dinglinger's favorite work: thegoddess Diana, carved out of ivory, is seated at the edge of achalcedony bowl in afiligree that is supported between the horns of a stag's head. Two dolphins spew water into the bowl for her bath.[23] A pearl is suspended in place of the shaft, while the bowl seems to float on the tips of the stag's antlers. This piece depicts the mythological scene in which the unapproachable Diana changes the hunterActaeon into a deer and has him torn to pieces by his own dogs for having watched her bathing.[22][24] The base of the piece presents theforest floor, upon which lies the head of the stag Actaeon, with the dogs falling ravenously upon it. The inscription picked out in diamonds on the rim of the base reads, "DISCRETION SERT EFFRONTERIE PERD" ("Discretion is laudable, indiscretion unwise").[25]
The 41-carat (8.2 g)Dresden Green Diamond is the most valuable diamond in the whole Green Vault. The stone's unique green color is due to natural exposure to radioactive materials. It was acquired byAugustus III of Poland from a Dutch merchant in 1742 at theLeipzig Fair.[26] Augustus ordered his "house diamond" to be mounted into a decorative badge of theGolden Fleece. His grandsonFrederick Augustus I of Saxony commissioned the Dresden court jeweler Diesbach to alter it radically. The framed diamond was incorporated into an extremely valuable hat ornament. It became the focal point of a 14.1 cm (5.6 in) high hat clasp, where it was surrounded by two large colorless diamonds of 19.3-carat (3.86 g) and 6.3-carat (1.26 g) carat plus 411 additional medium-sized and small diamonds.[15] This is the setting that the Dresden Green Diamond still appears in today.
Media related toGrünes Gewölbe at Wikimedia Commons