Top art, treasure and jewel heists in Europe in recent times

BERLIN — A brazen burglary Monday at a German museum holding priceless treasures is another in a long history of daring European heists over the years. German police said it was too early to estimate the value of the items stolen from Dresden’s Green Vault, one of the world’s oldest museums, and museum officials called the objects “priceless.” Here’s a look at some other spectacular thefts in Europe in recent years: SWEDISH SMASH AND GRAB In a daring daytime heist, thieves in Sweden smashed glass show cases inside a cathedral and snatched 17th-century royal treasures estimated to be worth 65 million kronor last year. And two months later, a lone gunman pulled off one of the biggest jewelry heists of all time, stealing $136 million worth of diamond jewelry from Cannes’ Carlton Hotel — a location for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic “To Catch a Thief.” ___ AIRPORT HEISTS European airports have provided a stage for some audacious jewel thefts. While Christmas shoppers strolled outside the posh Harry Winston jewelry shop near Paris’ famed Champs-Elysees in 2008, armed thieves — some dressed as women and wearing wigs — entered the store and stole gems and jeweled watches worth up to $85 million. While one used a pistol to force museum staff to lie on the floor, the two others swiped four paintings by Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh and Monet worth $163 million.