In The Middle Of The Night, Three Thieves Blasted Through A Dutch Museum’s Door And Stole Precious Artifacts Inside
In the middle of the night, three thieves broke into the Drents Museum in Assen, a city located in the northeastern Netherlands.
The security camera footage showed them carrying a duffle bag, a flashlight, and a crowbar. They used explosives to blast their way into the museum’s galleries, which are known for their arts and antiquities.
When authorities assessed the scene of the crime, they realized that the thieves had stolen objects from the “Dacia: Empire of Gold and Silver” exhibition, a collection of treasures from museums across Romania. The exhibit was supposed to close on January 26, which was the day after the robbery.
“This is a dark day,” said Harry Tupan, the general director of the Drents Museum. “We are intensely shocked by the events last night at the museum. In its 170-year existence, there has never been such a major incident. It also gives us enormous sadness toward our colleagues in Romania.”
In total, four golden objects are missing from the museum. They included three royal bracelets and the ancient helmet of Coțofenești. The helmet was on loan from the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest.
The stolen artifacts told the story of the Dacian people, who inhabited a region made up of parts of present-day Romania and other nearby countries. Their kingdom stood until the Roman Empire conquered the region around 106 C.E.
The Coțofenești helmet was crafted out of three solid gold plates that were welded together around 450 B.C.E. It is important to Romanian national identity. Kids learn about the helmet in school.
The helmet was discovered by children in the 1920s after a heavy rain washed away a section of a hillside in central Romania’s Prahova region.
The children played with it for a while and then took it home, where the family used it as a water bowl for their farm animals.
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In 1929, a merchant from Ploiești, the capital of Prahova, purchased the helmet from the family and later donated it to the National History Museum of Romania in the 1970s.
The helmet features rich images rooted in mythology. Two golden eyes on the front of the headgear are said to possess “apotropaic qualities,” or the ability to ward off evil.
The helmet’s decoration blends elements from ancient Eurasian and Greek cultures, including sphinxes, griffins, and a male figure sacrificing a ram.
The bracelets date back to around 50 B.C.E. and feature spiraling gold loops. They were unearthed in Sarmizegetusa Regia, the ancient Dacian capital.
The Dutch police are working with Interpol, an international police organization that helps countries fight crime, to find the items before they are melted down.
The recent robbery at Drents Museum was not carried out by amateurs. Police have tied it to a nearby car fire. The suspects may have set one car on fire and drove off in another. The search is still ongoing, and the museum will remain closed until further notice.
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