Culture News

Thieves empty a Dutch silver museum overnight: 300 pieces taken from a medieval church

Two men broke into the Zilvermuseum (Silver Museum) in Doesburg, in the eastern Netherlands, at around 4:30am on Thursday, January 22, and took its entire collection of antique silver, NL Times reports. The museum is housed in the 13th-century Martini church. The men forced the door with a crowbar, smashed every display case and left behind only some ceramics on temporary display. Police are collecting video footage from around the church.

The Art Newspaper says more than 300 pieces were taken, dating from 1700 to 1920, including a collection of mustard pots assembled by the museum's founder, Martin de Kleijn. Museum staff put the value at tens of thousands of euros. The museum opened in 2021. NL Times adds that the pieces came from over 20 countries and included spoons and objects linked to the butter, vinegar and tobacco trades.

“It is about the stories behind every mustard pot, it is history and it is cultural heritage.” — Ernst Boesveld, chairman, via The Art Newspaper

The museum said the rise in silver prices amid geopolitical uncertainty “significantly increases the financial damage”, although the collection's cultural value cannot be measured in money. It is insured and closed for now; Boesveld said it has “almost nothing left” and hopes the thieves will not melt the silver down, since it is worth more intact. The Art Newspaper placed the case in a run of Dutch museum thefts, including the January 2025 theft of more than €4m in golden Dacian treasures from the Drents Museum in Assen.

How each outlet framed it

• NL Times — the break-in step by step, the police search and the silver-price factor.
• The Art Newspaper — the collection's history and earlier Dutch museum thefts.

What we don't know yet: Who the two men are and whether any of the silver can be recovered intact. Both reports rely on the museum's own statements and Dutch broadcasters.