A historic diamond necklace once worn by Egypt’s Queen Nazli at her daughter’s 1939 wedding was stolen from Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) on 27 August, after two men smashed its glass display case and fled with the piece.
The theft was confirmed by Austrian police and the museum. The necklace, created by French luxury jewellery house Van Cleef & Arpels, features 673 diamonds set in platinum, with the stones weighing around 200 carats. It was part of the museum’s ongoing “Glanzstücke” exhibition.
According to Van Cleef & Arpels’ collection records, the necklace was created in 1939 as part of a jewellery commission for the Egyptian royal family ahead of the marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, then Crown Prince of Iran and later the country’s Shah. The necklace on display in Vienna was worn by Queen Nazli, Fawzia’s mother, during the wedding celebrations.
Queen Nazli was the second wife of King Fuad I and the mother of King Farouk and Princess Fawzia.
Two Men Smash Display Case
Austrian Police said the two suspects entered the museum as ordinary visitors after purchasing tickets. They were not wearing masks and were captured by surveillance cameras before breaking the display case with a hammer and taking the necklace.
The suspects then fled the museum on foot. Austrian authorities launched an extensive search, with the Vienna State Criminal Police Office taking over the investigation and surveillance footage being examined as part of the effort to identify the men.
Police have described the suspects as two slim men approximately 170–175 centimetres tall, with dark hair and dark beards. They were reportedly wearing black outerwear and dark sneakers with white soles. Authorities have appealed to the public for information about the suspects or the stolen necklace.
Part of a Major Van Cleef & Arpels Exhibition
The necklace was among roughly 500 objects featured in the MAK’s “Glanzstücke” exhibition, which brings together jewellery by Van Cleef & Arpels alongside pieces from the museum’s collection. More than 300 of the exhibits are from Van Cleef & Arpels, while more than 200 come from the MAK collection.
The exhibition opened in June and was scheduled to continue until 27 September.
The MAK confirmed the theft but said it would not provide further comment while the investigation remains ongoing. No injuries were reported in the incident.
The theft comes amid a series of high-profile museum robberies across Europe, including the October 2025 theft of jewellery from Paris’ Louvre museum. In that incident, thieves escaped with jewellery valued at approximately USD 102 million (EGP 5 Billion).
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