VIENNA:(PNP) A priceless necklace belonging to the mother-in-law of an Iranian prince, adorned with more than 600 diamonds, has been stolen from a museum in Europe.
An international operation is underway to track down two men who stole the diamond-studded necklace from a museum in Vienna. Both suspects had purchased tickets to the exhibition where the necklace was on display.
According to police, the two suspects smashed the glass display case containing the necklace at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), seized the platinum-and-diamond necklace and fled the scene.
The stolen necklace belonged to Queen Nazli of Egypt, who wore it in 1939 on the occasion of her daughter Princess Fawzia’s marriage to Iran’s then-Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The diamonds set in the necklace have a combined weight of more than 200 carats, and the piece is believed to be worth more than $4 million.
The theft is the latest in a series of major art and antiquities robberies from European museums. In recent years, several European museums have reported thefts involving jewelry, paintings and other valuable artifacts. Against this backdrop, special security arrangements had been put in place for the exhibition.
The necklace was created for the former Egyptian royal family and was part of an exhibition by renowned jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels, which was scheduled to continue at the Museum of Applied Arts until September.
Police are appealing to the public for any information that could help identify the suspects. Authorities also believe that at least one of the suspects may have been carrying a real firearm. After taking the necklace, the men fled toward Vienna’s Stadtpark, located south of the museum.
MAK Director General Lilli Hollein said the theft of a piece of jewelry of such immense value was a major blow to the museum. She said MAK had worked closely with Van Cleef & Arpels to develop a dedicated security plan specifically for the exhibition.
According to Hollein, security matters had been taken extremely seriously, and all protective measures had been carefully planned. She said staff remained calm during the armed robbery, followed established procedures and ensured that no one was injured.
She added that, in view of the numerous thefts from major museums in recent years, MAK had conducted a comprehensive review of its security measures before the exhibition opened.
Earlier on Thursday, a significant collection of prehistoric jewelry and artifacts was also stolen from a museum in Spain.
Earlier this month, four Renaissance-era paintings were stolen from a museum in Sicily, while at the beginning of the year, paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse, worth millions of euros, were taken from a museum in Parma.
These incidents followed the brazen daylight robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris last October, when a masked gang stole priceless jewels.
According to European police agency Europol, museum thefts have become more violent than in the past, with an increasing use of force and intimidation.
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