Paris, October 26, 2023 – A crown belonging to French Empress Eugénie, dropped by thieves during a brazen heist at the Louvre Museum last October, has been recovered-albeit in a squashed and deformed state. The museum has released images of the damaged crown, confirming it will undergo restoration.
A Royal Recovery, But at What Cost?
The famed Louvre Museum is working to restore a diamond and emerald-studded crown dropped during a €88 million ($149 million) jewel theft.
- Thieves stole an estimated €88 million ($149 million) worth of jewels from the Louvre last October.
- The crown of Empress Eugénie was dropped during the escape and sustained significant damage.
- Despite being “badly deformed,” the crown is “nearly intact” and will be restored without needing to be fully reconstructed.
- Police have arrested four suspects but haven’t recovered the remaining jewels or identified the heist’s mastermind.
The audacious robbery saw thieves make off with an estimated €88 million ($149 million) in jewels, but in their haste to escape, they abandoned the diamond and emerald-studded crown, leaving it crushed and broken. Investigators are still searching for the remaining stolen items.
The thieves climbed through this window into the Apollo Gallery.
Police have arrested four individuals allegedly involved in the heist, but the mastermind behind the operation remains at large, and the remaining jewels-including a diamond-studded tiara belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III (who reigned from 1852 to 1870)-have not been recovered.
