Thieves snatch $4 million necklace from Vienna museum before fleeing on foot

It’s the highest value art heist in Vienna since Benvenuto Cellini’s gold-and-enamel Saliera was stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 2003. Photo by INTERPOL on X

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A historic diamond necklace originally designed for the Egyptian royal family and valued at about $4 million was stolen from a major Vienna museum, triggering a police manhunt for the two alleged thieves.

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The men smashed a display case in Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts during opening hours on Thursday and fled on foot, according to a police statement. Their target was a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace designed for an Egyptian royal wedding in 1939.

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Made for the marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt and the Crown Prince of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Sotheby’s assessed its value at between $3.6 and $4.6 million at a 2015 auction. The piece is made of platinum and 673 diamonds with a total weight of 200 carats.

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It’s the highest value art heist in Vienna since Benvenuto Cellini’s gold-and-enamel Saliera was stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 2003. That piece, valued at 50 million euros, was recovered three years later.

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The heist is poised to refocus attention on security protocols at museums, following the the theft of about $100 million worth of jewels from the Louvre, conducted in broad daylight last year. Several people have been arrested in the case, but the Paris-based museum’s director was forced to resign.

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Thieves also made off this week with a collection of 3,000-year-old gold pieces in a museum in the Spanish town of Villena.

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Visitors look at exhibits near a blue panel covering the area where a display case was smashed and a Van Cleef and Arpels necklace was stolen at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), in Vienna, Austria, on August 28, 2026. Photo by JEREMY AUDOUARD /AFP via Getty Images

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The thieves behind for Thursday’s caper in Vienna fled in an unknown direction, according to police. They were described as two slim men about 175 centimeters (5 feet, 7 inches) tall, with dark hair and beards. CCTV images show both wearing black clothes and dark sneakers.

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Curated in conjunction with the Parisian luxury brand, the exhibition at the museum on Vienna’s famous Ringstrasse, “Prime Pieces: Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewelry x Masterpieces from the MAK Collection,” was scheduled to run until Sept. 27.

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Following consultations with investigators, the museum said in a Friday statement that the jewelry exhibition was again open to visitors following a brief closure.

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