Two men bought tickets at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts and stole a 1939 diamond necklace valued at around 28 million kroner.
The theft took place on Thursday afternoon at the museum in central Vienna, DR reports. The two men entered around 2 p.m. as ordinary paying guests, smashed the display case protecting the necklace and fled with the jewel.
Anna Gutt, a spokesperson for the Vienna police, said the pair posed as visitors and walked through the exhibition before breaking the case with a hammer. According to her account, given to Österreichischer Rundfunk, officers are analyzing evidence and surveillance images while witnesses are questioned.
The necklace was made by the Parisian luxury jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels in 1939 for the Egyptian royal family. It has been worn by Queen Nazli of Egypt, and it was part of a museum exhibition focused on the Paris jeweler.
The two men were not masked, and police say they are clearly visible on footage from surveillance cameras. As reported by CBS News, Austrian police say the suspects were captured on camera after buying tickets and entering the building.
The piece is a platinum necklace set with 673 diamonds weighing more than 200 carats in total, according to UA News. The Art Deco jewel was originally commissioned for the Egyptian royal family. Police are still searching for the two men.
One of several museum thefts
DR notes that the Vienna case is one of many thefts at museums over the past year. On the same day, thieves in Villena, Spain, took a large gold treasure in under four minutes.
Last week, four Renaissance works were stolen from a museum on Sicily. Earlier this month, Italian police recovered paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth more than 66 million kroner, which were stolen in Parma in March.
In October 2025, the Louvre in Paris was robbed in broad daylight. Thieves took jewelry worth several million kroner and escaped on scooters. They have since been arrested and charged, but only one crown, dropped during the escape, was found.
The remaining jewels from the Louvre theft have still not been recovered, according to DR. Portuguese broadcaster Rádio Renascença reports that the Vienna theft happened during normal opening hours at the Museum of Applied Arts, known as MAK.
Vienna police have not said whether the two men are believed to have accomplices. The investigation continues, with surveillance footage and witness statements forming the current basis of the case.
