Jewels at the heart of a multimillion-dollar heist in 2019 — and recovered a few years later — are back on display at the German museum they were stolen from.

The Grüne Gewölbe, or Green Vault, in Dresden, Germany, announced this week that the exhibition of historical gems and other relics is reopening to the public in “almost all its glory.”

Marion Ackermann, director general of the Dresden State Art Collections, said in a statement translated from German that the regional court system had allowed the recovered items to be sent back to the museum for display.

“The jewels are presented exactly as they were returned to the [Dresden State Art Collections] — with damage that is barely visible, although in need of restoration,” Ackermann said.

Saxony Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer called it a “good day” for the German state in the eastern part of the country bordering Poland and the Czech Republic.

Some of the recovered jewelry is seen in a display case in the Green Vault on Tuesday.

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“In 2019, criminal clans from Berlin took possession of our cultural heritage,” Kretschmer said in German in a post on X. “But we fought for our treasure!”

Located in Dresden’s Royal Palace, the Green Vault began as a project to house precious metals, ornate art and other objects amassed by August the Strong, the Saxon elector who would later become the king of Poland, between 1723 and 1729.

The brazen heist five years ago shocked the German public and ignited a massive hunt for the $123 million in pilfered jewels and artifacts — as well as those responsible for snatching them during the nighttime break-in.

Authorities said at the time that surveillance video showed two thieves entering the museum’s Jewel Room and smashing display cases with what appeared to be a hatchet or small ax.

The suspects made off with an array of historical valuables, including a breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle decorated in diamonds and a diamond-covered sword.

Those two items were among a portion of the stolen goods recovered in Berlin by German law enforcement authorities in late 2022.

The whereabouts of other treasures, such as a large breast bow of Queen Amalie Auguste, made of 611 small diamonds, silver and gold, and an epaulet that includes the so-called Saxon White diamond, remain unknown.

The Green Vault in Dresden is reopening with some of the stolen jewelry back on display. Some other items are still missing.

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Last year, five men were sentenced to several years in prison for taking part in the robbery. They admitted to setting fire to a nearby circuit breaker panel to cut the power in the area and using a hydraulic cutting machine to break into the museum.

The men are members of the so-called Remmo Clan, a family crime network with Arab roots operating in Germany that’s been linked to other robberies in the past.

Ackermann said an international commission of experts would convene to discuss how to restore the recovered jewels.

“The baroque jewelry ensemble in the jewelry room is unique in the world,” Ackermann said. She added that museum officials had “not given up hope of being able to exhibit the remaining jewels here in the Green Vault one day.”

NPR is in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. For more of our coverage from the Games, head to our latest updates.

WARSAW, Poland — A rocking beat of energetic music fills every corner of a spacious, sun-drenched sports complex in the Polish capital. After some stretching and warming up, three breakers and their trainer are practicing complex dance and acrobatic moves.

Breaking, also known as breakdancing, is making its Olympic debut as a sport this week in Paris. A team of female and male Ukrainian athletes, called “B-girls” and “B-boys,” have gone through a three-year selection process on their way to the Summer Games and finally got together in a training camp here last month.

Kateryna Pavlenko, 29, or B-girl Kate, looked at herself in the mirror as she danced, a look of growing confidence on her face. “When we just knew that breaking is going to be in the Olympics, I had no doubt I’m going to do everything to end up there,” she said.

Kateryna Pavlenko, 29, aka B-girl Kate, was born in Kharkiv and moved to the U.S. in 2021. As soon as she found out that breaking would be in the Olympics, she knew she would be there.

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Pavlenko, another Ukrainian b-girl, Anna Ponomarenko, and two B-boys came here to train for the Games. In a one-on-one breaking competition, two dancers take turns showcasing their skills, moves, character, style and musicality, each trying to outshine the other. After all the rounds are completed, judges determine the winner.

Ukrainians have known breaking since Soviet times, when authorities disapproved of it, which gave it a special appeal as a kind of cultural forbidden fruit. They usually first discovered it thanks to video cassettes of movies such as Breakin’ (1984) that were brought home by citizens, often diplomats, who had the right to travel abroad.

After the Cold War ended, many teenagers watched battles — or competitions — of American B-boys and B-girls on pirated hip-hop music videos, pausing them to learn the moves and style.

Georgii Matiukhin, the team manager, was one of those teens.

“We were a generation without any school,” Matiukhin said. “We found VHS tapes, watched them, and tried to repeat. The first tapes we watched were American breakers Rock Steady Crew, from New York, and style elements from the West Coast.”

Breaker Kateryna Pavlenko (from left), team manager Georgii Matiukhin and coach Denys Semenikhin show their pride in representing Ukraine at the Olympics.

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In the early 2000s, Ukrainian breaking made its way to international battles and championships, where Ukrainians showed good results.

Matiukhin said he believes breaking has gained such popularity and development in his country because dance “has always been in the blood of Ukrainians.”

Breaking, which was born in the Bronx, now shows many cultural influences, notably from South Africa and Brazil. Ukrainian folk dances, such as the arms-crossed, foot-kicking hopak, are also an inspiration to many — especially the three athletes training here.

Denys Semenikhin, B-boy Gimnast, is the coach of the Ukrainian Olympic breaking team. He started breaking in 2001 and was born and lives in Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine. He says the psychological state of athletes is no less important than the physical. The opportunity to represent Ukraine during the war is a great honor but also a challenge for the athletes, he says.

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Oleh Kuznetsov, or B-boy Kuzya, age 34, says his footwork demonstrates how classical elements from Ukrainian folk dances can be interpreted in modern breaking. For him, representing Ukraine is a great honor.

“I want to show that we have nice big and shiny souls and that I am representing my country and my culture,” he said.

At the Olympics, Ukrainian breakers will compete in groups of athletes in a battle format. Nine judges will evaluate the athletes according to criteria including originality, technique and “vocabulary,” or the variety of dance moves deployed.

Unlike in figure skating, where athletes practice the same choreography for months, even years, in breaking, the athletes do not know the music in advance, so the ability to adapt and improvise is key.

Oleksandr Gatyn-Lozynskyi, B-boy Lussysky, the team reserve (left), and Oleh Kuznetsov, B-boy Kuzya, work out and stretch as part of their preparation for the Olympics.

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Denys Seminikhin, the team’s coach, says the breakers’ psychological state is no less important than their physical fitness, emphasizing that representing the country during the war is a great challenge for the athletes.

“Shining is more important than winning,” Pavlenko said. With her performance, she says she wants to return the world’s attention to Ukraine.

“Of course, I want to win a medal,” she adds. “I feel proud to represent my country and I want to make my people proud, as well.”

Oleh Kuznetsov, B-boy Kuzya, trains for the Paris Games. “I want to show that we have nice big and shiny souls and that I am representing my country and my culture,” he says.

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Meet Zia, my dilute calico who enjoys chasing droplets of water in the tub and lying flat on her back, like a fluffy rug in a log cabin. In her two years of life she’s spent quite a bit of time at the vet, for eye infections and painful cold sores, among other things. The bills from each visit have added up, making her an especially costly member of my household.

The cost of veterinary care has ballooned over the last decade, rising more than 60%, according to a recent New York Times report. This is due to a number of converging factors, among them: more expensive drugs and vaccines, the rising cost of staffing vet offices and the ongoing corporatization of independent veterinary practices. And as medical technologies and treatments for our pets advance — MRIs, chemotherapy, allergy testing, even acupuncture — so too has the average cost of a vet visit.

I know I’m far from alone in bearing the financial burden of this expensive system. We’d like to hear from you in the form below, with stories of your vet bill woes throughout the Southern California area. And if you’ve discovered more affordable or alternative treatments for your pets’ medical needs, we’re all ears. Please be sure to include your first and last name, where you live in SoCal and your contact information. We may email you with follow-up questions and may include your response in a future story.