Thieves smash a Vienna museum case and steal Queen Nazli’s 673-diamond necklace

Two men stole a diamond necklace from Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts during opening hours on Thursday, Aug. 27.

The suspects bought museum tickets and entered as ordinary visitors.

The suspects were not wearing masks.

The suspects smashed a glass display case and took the necklace.

The suspects used a hammer to smash the display case.

Police said one suspect was carrying what was believed to be a real firearm.

No one was injured.

Visitors and security staff were in the room when the case was smashed.

A police spokeswoman said it was understandable that security did not confront the armed man.

The suspects fled on foot toward Vienna’s Stadtpark.

Police said the perpetrators fled with the jewellery in an unknown direction.

Police released CCTV images of the two suspects.

Police asked the public for information.

Police deployed tracking dogs in the search.

Police launched a national and international hunt for the two men.

Austrian authorities added the necklace to Interpol’s database of stolen artworks.

Police are examining CCTV, traces and witnesses.

The necklace belonged to Egypt’s Queen Nazli.

Queen Nazli wore it in 1939 at Princess Fawzia’s wedding to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The platinum necklace is set with 673 diamonds.

The diamonds weigh more than 200 carats.

Van Cleef & Arpels made the necklace.

The necklace was on loan from Van Cleef & Arpels.

It was shown in MAK’s Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery exhibition.

The exhibition is scheduled to run until Sept. 27.

The show included more than 300 Van Cleef works.

About 200 objects in the show came from MAK’s own collection.

Sotheby’s sold the necklace in New York in 2015 for about $4.3 million, then about €3.7 million.

Coverage put the necklace’s worth at more than $4 million.

MAK director Lilli Hollein said the theft of a high-value Van Cleef piece had hit the museum hard.

The museum confirmed the theft but declined to discuss the investigation.

Europol said European museum thefts are becoming more violent and forceful.

Europol said the pattern may involve new criminal networks or opportunists from other crime.

Thieves stole jewels from the Louvre in a daylight raid last October.

The Louvre jewels were reported worth about €88 million, or about $102 million.

On the same Thursday, thieves stole Bronze Age artefacts from Spain’s Treasure of Villena.

Four Antonello da Messina paintings were stolen from a museum in Messina this month.

Van Cleef & Arpels describes the necklace as a triumph of white jewellery.

Queen Nazli’s great-granddaughter Fawzia Farouk expressed profound sorrow at the theft.

Farouk said the jewel is an irreplaceable part of her family’s history and Egypt’s cultural heritage.

The necklace was commissioned alongside a matching tiara.

King Farouk stripped Nazli of her royal title in 1950 over Princess Fathia’s marriage to a Coptic Christian.

Nazli later lived in the United States and fell into debt.

The Vienna theft is the latest in a string of high-profile raids on European museums.