Film-like heist in Vienna museum: Necklace with 673 diamonds stolen

Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) was the scene of a brazen, film-like heist when two men stole an exceptionally valuable diamond necklace. The suspects entered the museum as regular visitors, purchased tickets, and then, using a hammer, smashed a display case to seize the platinum jewelry.

The stolen item is a historically significant necklace once owned by Queen Nazli of Egypt. The piece, featuring 673 diamonds totaling approximately 200 carats, was on loan for an exhibition dedicated to the French jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels. It holds an estimated value of over $4.3 million.

Austrian police have released images from surveillance cameras and are appealing to the public for assistance in identifying and locating the two masked men. The suspects fled the scene with the jewelry in an unknown direction. A search is underway in central Vienna, with a tracking dog also deployed.

Investigators are reportedly considering the possibility that the theft was a commissioned act for an organized crime group, though this remains an unconfirmed detail circulating in the media. The necklace has a rich history, having been worn by Queen Nazli at her daughter Fawzia's wedding in 1939. Fawzia later married Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. The necklace was sold at Sotheby's in New York in 2015 for $4.3 million.

The exhibition, which featured over 300 works from Van Cleef & Arpels and spanned 120 years of the house's history, was temporarily closed following the incident. The exhibition was scheduled to run until September 27.

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The perpetrators fled with the jewelry in an unknown direction.