Necklace with 673 Diamonds Belonging to Queen Nazli Stolen in Vienna

Austrian police announced on Thursday that a rare necklace decorated with hundreds of diamonds and once owned by Queen Nazli of Egypt had been stolen from a museum in Vienna.

The incident took place at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) during an exhibition dedicated to jewelry. The museum confirmed the theft but provided no further details about the missing item, emphasizing that no one was injured and that it would make no further announcements while the investigation is ongoing.

The necklace was created by the renowned French brand Van Cleef & Arpels. Based on information published on the museum’s website, it may be one of Queen Nazli’s royal jewels and contains 673 diamonds, with a total weight of more than 200 carats.

The item was part of the MAK exhibition, which had displayed more than 300 works from the Van Cleef & Arpels collection since the beginning of June.

According to the exhibition description, Queen Nazli wore the necklace in 1939 at the wedding ceremony of her daughter, Fauzia, to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, then Crown Prince of Iran and later Shah of Iran. A photograph published by the museum shows the jewelry inside a glass display case.

The necklace’s value was also demonstrated on the auction market. In 2015, it was sold for approximately $4.3 million at an auction organized by Sotheby’s in New York.

Police said that two unidentified people broke the display case while the museum was open, took the necklace and fled on foot.

Authorities have released footage from security cameras showing two suspects dressed in black inside the museum. Investigations are continuing to identify and arrest them, while the necklace has still not been found.