Thieves break the door of the Dutch museum to steal a gold helmet

The video is grainy but terrible: three hooded men, rushing towards each other to pull the heavy entrance door of the Drenthes Museum – the museum of art and history in Assen, the Netherlands – and then an explosion and a flash of fire in the noisy Saturday hours.

As dawn broke, it became clear that this was no amateur theft. Dutch police said the blast was an attempt to break into the venerable museum and steal some of its treasures, including a prized helmet made of gold on loan from Romania.

“This is a dark day for the Drent Museum in Assen and the Romanian National History Museum in Bucharest,” Harry Tupan, director of the Drenth Museum, said in a statement. “We are shocked by what happened at the museum last night. Never in its 170 years has there been such a big event.

Among the stolen items were three gold bracelets and Kotofinesti’s golden helmetcreated in the fifth century BC, is a richly decorated, solid-gold helmet, weighing more than two pounds, featuring large spikes on the top of the head.

It dates back to the ancient Dacians who lived in parts of the Balkan region. The helmet, which is widely known in Romania and is believed to have been used in ceremonies, depicts various scenes, including a man sacrificing a sheep.

The helmet and several other golden artifacts are on display as part of a traveling exhibition from the National History Museum of Romania and on display at the Drenthes Museum. From July 2024.

While authorities have declined to place a monetary value on the stolen items, Romanian authorities have called Their value is “incalculable” to Romanian culture.

Neither representatives of the National History Museum nor officials of the Romanian Ministry of Culture could be reached on Sunday.

Dutch police say they are investigating the connection between the break-in and a car fire nearby. They say the thieves may have torched one car before making off with another.

A A similar art theft occurred in November. At the MPV Gallery in Amsterdam, thieves use a bomb to break into an art gallery and steal two prints by American artist Andy Warhol.