Vienna Museum Heist: Historic Egyptian Queen's Necklace With 673 Diamonds Worth $4.3 Million Stolen

Austrian police have launched a manhunt for two men who stole a historic 200-carat platinum necklace studded with 673 diamonds from the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna, The Guardian reported. The work, which once belonged to the Egyptian royal family, was on loan to the institution when the daytime raid took place.

Security camera footage of the unmasked suspects who bought tickets to the show during opening hours Thursday afternoon before smashing a glass display case with a hammer have been released by authorities.

Police appealed to the public for information and said: “The offenders fled in an unknown direction with the jewellery.”

Police officers and police dogs were deployed around the city center to search for the suspects. According to Kronen newspaper, investigators believe the robbery was likely “contract work” done for a criminal gang.

Exhibition impressiveness and royal origin

The necklace was part of a major jewelry exhibition that has been running since June and features more than 300 pieces by Parisian jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels, along with around 200 “unique and rarely seen items” from the MAK’s own collection.

Although several witnesses were present in the room during the robbery, no one was injured, the news outlet reported.

After the theft, the MAK temporarily closed the exhibition – which was scheduled to end on September 27 – and canceled the guided tour planned for Friday afternoon.

According to the exhibition documentation, the necklace originally belonged to Queen Nazli of Egypt, who wore it in 1939 at the wedding of her daughter Fawzia to the then Iranian crown prince (later Shah) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The piece was previously sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 2015 for $4.3 million and was on loan from the Van Cleef & Arpels patrimonial collection, which spans 120 years of the luxury brand’s history.

Increasing theft in museums

The heist comes amid a spate of high-profile thefts targeting cultural institutions across Europe:

A Europol report published this month warned that robberies at museums across the continent were becoming increasingly violent, noting that perpetrators brandished firearms, assaulted staff and used axes, sledgehammers and explosives to secure their loot.