A priceless diamond necklace with royal Egyptian history has been stolen from a museum in Vienna after two men allegedly smashed through its glass display case during opening hours.
The platinum necklace, set with 673 diamonds weighing a combined 200 carats, was taken on Thursday from the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), where it was part of an exhibition dedicated to the French jewellery house Van Cleef & Arpels.
Vienna police have released surveillance images of the two suspects and appealed to the public for information. Investigators said the men entered the exhibition as ordinary visitors, bought tickets and later used a hammer to break the case before fleeing with the necklace.
No one was injured in the incident, although several people were inside the exhibition space when the theft occurred.
Police launched a search across central Vienna and used a tracking dog in an effort to locate the suspects. Austrian media reported that investigators were examining whether the theft had been commissioned by an organised criminal group.
Jewel with royal history
The stolen necklace dates to 1939 and has a connection to one of Egypt’s most prominent royal families.
Museum records state that it belonged to Queen Nazli of Egypt, the wife of King Fuad I and mother of King Farouk. She wore the necklace during the wedding of her daughter, Princess Fawzia, to Iran’s Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Cairo in 1939. He later became the Shah of Iran.
The necklace was subsequently sold by Sotheby’s in New York in 2015 for $4.3 million.
Its historical significance, however, extends well beyond its monetary value.
The jewel was among more than 300 pieces featured in the MAK exhibition, which explored the history of Van Cleef & Arpels through rare works drawn from the jewellery house’s heritage collection and the museum’s holdings.
The exhibition opened in June and was scheduled to run until September 27.
Following the robbery, the museum temporarily shut the exhibition and cancelled a guided tour that had been scheduled for Friday.
Latest in series of museum raids
The Vienna theft comes amid a growing wave of high-profile attacks on museums and cultural institutions across Europe.
In Spain, thieves recently targeted the Treasure of Villena, an ancient collection of gold and other artefacts dating to the Bronze Age. In Sicily, several important Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina were stolen from a museum earlier this month before police recovered a separate group of stolen works by artists including Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse.
The recent incidents have heightened concerns about organized theft targeting valuable cultural objects.
Europol warned this month that some museum robberies in Europe were becoming more aggressive, with criminals increasingly using weapons and heavy tools to force their way into display areas.
The theft in Vienna is likely to intensify scrutiny of security measures at museums holding high-value jewellery and other easily transportable works of art.
For now, police are focusing on identifying the two men captured by security cameras and recovering a necklace whose value lies as much in its connection to Egypt’s royal past as in its extraordinary collection of diamonds.
