VIENNA — Two men posing as visitors smashed a glass display case with a hammer and stole a diamond-encrusted platinum necklace valued at more than $4 million during a brazen daylight robbery Thursday at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts, Austrian police said. The thieves targeted the necklace while it was being exhibited as part of a jewelry collection. The piece is decorated with 673 diamonds and was once owned by Egyptian royalty, adding historical significance to the high-value theft.
Police said the suspects entered the museum appearing to be ordinary visitors before breaking open the display case and fleeing with the necklace. Authorities have launched a manhunt and are investigating how the men gained access to the exhibit and escaped. The robbery has drawn attention to the security challenges facing museums that display valuable jewelry and other cultural treasures. Such institutions have long been targets for organized thieves because individual artifacts can carry enormous financial and historical value.
Vienna has a long history as a center for European art, culture and imperial wealth. Its museums hold collections linked to centuries of European and Middle Eastern history, making the theft particularly significant beyond the necklace’s monetary value.
High-profile museum thefts have previously made international headlines. The 1911 theft of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the Louvre in Paris became one of the most famous art crimes in history and highlighted vulnerabilities in museum security.
Police have urged anyone with information about Thursday’s robbery or the suspects’ movements to come forward as investigators work to recover the necklace and determine whether the theft was planned by a wider criminal network.
