Men buy museum tickets, then steal 200-carat diamond necklace
Police said the two men did not wear masks, paid to enter the museum and were clearly seen on surveillance cameras.
Two men entered Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) with valid tickets and proceeded to break through a display case. Inside, they managed to snatch a 200-carat platinum and diamond necklace, described by Van Cleef and Arpels as a "triumph of white jewelry." The necklace, featuring 673 precious stones, was reportedly worth several million dollars.
The theft occurred amidst a surge of high-profile museum heists across Europe, with recent incidents including the Louvre in Paris and a Spanish museum housing the Treasure of Villena. The perpetrators of the Vienna theft were captured on surveillance cameras, showing no signs of mask-wearing. They left the museum with the stolen goods in an unspecified direction.
The MAK museum, while confirming the loss, declined to comment further pending the investigation. The necklace, originally part of an exhibition showcasing French designer Van Cleef and Arpels, had been on display since June, though the exhibition was set to close on September 27th and has since been suspended following the incident.
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