Two men robbed Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) after purchasing admission tickets before smashing a glass display case and escaping with a rare Van Cleef & Arpels necklace containing hundreds of precious stones, Austrian police said Friday.
The theft took place on Thursday. According to police, the two suspects entered the museum without wearing masks and were clearly captured by surveillance cameras. They used a hammer to break the glass display case, seized the necklace and fled in an unknown direction.
Austrian media reported that the necklace, made of platinum and featuring around 200 carats of diamonds, contains 673 precious stones and is valued at several million dollars.
The MAK confirmed the theft but declined to provide further details while the investigation remains ongoing.
The stolen piece was part of a major exhibition dedicated to French luxury jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels. The exhibition, which opened in June and features around 500 pieces, is scheduled to run until September 27.
The museum initially announced that the exhibition would remain closed until further notice. However, the section where the theft occurred reopened several hours later, with the damaged display case covered by a blue panel.
Necklace Has Royal History
The stolen necklace has a notable connection to Egypt’s former royal family. It was worn by Queen Nazli in 1939 during the wedding of her daughter, Princess Faiza, to Iran’s future Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Van Cleef & Arpels previously described the piece on its website as a “triumph of white jewellery.” The French luxury jewelry company had not immediately issued a statement on the theft.
Latest in a Series of European Museum Heists
The Vienna robbery is the latest in a series of high-profile museum thefts across Europe.
In October, thieves broke into Paris’s Louvre Museum in broad daylight and escaped in less than eight minutes with jewelry reportedly worth around $102 million.
On Thursday, thieves also raided a museum in the Spanish city of Villena, stealing most of the more than 50 gold artifacts from the Treasure of Villena, one of Europe’s most important Bronze Age collections.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Culture Ministry recently announced that four works described as being of “extraordinary value” by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina had been stolen from a museum in Sicily.
Just two days earlier, Italian police said they had recovered paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse, valued at more than $10.4 million, after they were stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation museum near Parma.
The series of thefts has renewed concerns over security at European museums, particularly those displaying high-value historical and jewelry collections.
