So I am trying to write up a heist involving a medieval church vault (though this is as an model, the thing I'm writing is not set in that time period, it's more along a sci fi vein) and have no idea where to start.
In the attempt to begin making sense of this I've googled "church vaults" and read on some architecture via Wikipedia, but it hasn't been too helpful. I also happened upon this interesting Wired article on the world's biggest diamond heist. The article was neat but marginally helpful. The most useful thing I've found through my googling was this pdf from the MET.
So, I was wondering if the community knew of some other resources. This might seem obvious, but I'm wondering what kind of security would be prevalent with old church vaults/treasuries--just lock and key? Who would have access to them? I'm assuming that someone who has recently (less than a year ago) entered the monastery or convent would *not* have access to this space--or would they? As the above suggest, my character wants to steal something, so other heist resources are also welcome. Thanks in advance and my apologies that this is all over the place.
