The crown belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, can be fully restored despite being crushed during a high-value heist at the Louvre, the museum has confirmed. Newly released photographs show the damaged 19th-century diamond headpiece, which experts say can be returned to its original form without the need for reconstruction.
The crown was among jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m) targeted in a raid last October. However, the thieves were forced to abandon the piece after badly deforming it while attempting to remove it through a narrow opening in a glass display case. The Louvre said the crown was “significantly damaged” during the escape.
Although one of its eight gold eagles is missing, the crown still retains all 56 emeralds and all but 10 of its 1,354 diamonds. Laurence des Cars, president of the Louvre, has assembled and led an expert committee to oversee the restoration process.
The brazen daylight raid took place shortly after 9.30am on October 19, once the museum had opened to the public. A group of masked thieves entered the Apollo Gallery and stole eight royal objects, including a tiara, necklace, brooch and earrings. Prosecutors said the gang accessed the museum using a truck with an extendable ladder, cut through a window with power tools and smashed open two display cases, threatening guards in the process.
The thieves were inside the museum for less than four minutes before fleeing on scooters. Four suspects have since been arrested, though investigators believe the mastermind remains at large. The stolen jewellery has not been recovered.
It was the Louvre’s first theft since 1998. Following the raid, the museum acknowledged failures in its ageing security system, prompting tighter security measures across French museums.
