Two unmasked individuals are being sought by authorities after stealing a platinum necklace valued at over £3 million from Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts (MAK).
The thieves, captured on CCTV, smashed a glass display case with a hammer to obtain the 200-carat Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, which contains 673 diamonds. They then fled towards Vienna Stadtpark, located south of the museum.
Investigators believe the suspects had purchased tickets to enter the museum. The stolen piece was part of an exhibition dedicated to the French jewelry designer, featuring approximately 500 items. The exhibition was scheduled to run until the following month.
Originally created for the former Egyptian royal family, the necklace was worn by Queen Nazli in 1939 for the wedding of her daughter, Fawzia, to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who would become the Shah of Iran. Van Cleef & Arpels described the necklace on its website as a 'triumph of white jewellery.'
Police have released images of the two suspects, with one reportedly carrying a firearm. Lilli Hollein, MAK general director, stated that the theft was a significant blow to the museum. She noted that a security plan had been developed with Van Cleef & Arpels specifically for the exhibition, and that security measures were thoroughly prepared.
This incident follows a pattern of high-profile thefts targeting European museums. Earlier in the week, a Bronze Age gold collection was stolen from a museum in Villena, Spain. Additionally, four valuable works by Antonello da Messina were taken from a museum in Sicily, and paintings by Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse were recovered by Italian police after being stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation museum.
