See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy FRANCINE WOLFISZ, NEWS REPORTER Published: 12:02 BST, 29 August 2026 | Updated: 12:06 BST, 29 August 2026
Brazen jewel thieves are being hunted after swiping a 200-carat platinum necklace featuring 673 diamonds.Two unmasked men were captured on CCTV during the daring smash-and-grab heist at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna.The stunning Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, worth more than £3million, had been encased within a glass display before the suspects smashed it with a hammer.They were then seen fleeing towards the Vienna Stadtpark, just south of the museum, police said.It is believed the men had earlier purchased tickets to enter the museum.The necklace had been part of an exhibition devoted to the exclusive French jewellery designers. Some 500 pieces had been on display since June, with the exhibition continuing until next month.The stolen necklace was originally designed for the former Egyptian royal family, and was worn by Queen Nazli in 1939 for the marriage of her daughter Fawzia to the future Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Two unmasked men were captured on CCTV during the daring smash-and-grab heist at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna The stunning Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, worth more than £3million, had been encased within a glass display before the suspects smashed it with a hammer The necklace was one of more than 500 pieces on display at the museum before it was stolen On its website, Van Cleef and Arpels called the stolen piece a 'triumph of white jewellery'. The French company did not immediately comment on the theft.Police have now released photographs of the two suspects, with one believed to have been carrying a firearm. Lilli Hollein, MAK general director, said 'the theft of a highly valuable piece of jewellery... has hit us hard'.She added that the museum had developed a security plan with Van Cleef & Arpels specifically for the exhibition, adding: 'Security issues were taken very seriously and all security measures were carefully prepared.'The theft is the latest in a series of high-profile heists targeting European museums. On Thursday, thieves raided a Bronze Age gold collection from a museum in the Spanish city of Villena, taking more than 50 gold bracelets, bowls, bottles and other items on display.Four works 'of extraordinary value' by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina were also stolen from a museum in Sicily, earlier this month. Meanwhile Italian police said they had recovered paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation museum near Parma.Last October, thieves broke into the Louvre museum in Paris in broad daylight, escaping in less than eight minutes with jewellery worth £75m.
