More than three months after a multi-million euro jewelry heist, the Louvre Museum has released images showing the damaged state of Empress Eugénie’s crown, which was abandoned and crushed during the thieves’ escape. The Parisian institution announced the historic jewel will undergo a “complete restoration.”
A Miraculous Survival with Significant Damage
Recovered at the foot of the Galerie d’Apollon following the October 19 robbery, the crown has “retained its near-complete integrity,” according to a museum statement. However, it suffered a double trauma. It was first damaged when extracted through a “relatively narrow slit cut by the thieves’ angle grinder” in its display case, and then subjected to a “violent shock” that caused it to be crushed.
Restoration Deemed “Delicate But Possible”
Louvre President Laurence des Cars had previously told a Senate committee that restoring the object—commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III for his wife in 1855—would be “delicate but possible.” The museum has now confirmed the restoration will proceed “without resorting to reconstruction or restitution.”
Despite the deformation, the crown’s core elements survived. All 56 emeralds remained in place, and only about ten small diamonds out of 1,354 are missing. “The globe of diamonds and emeralds is intact,” and only one of the eight golden eagles has been permanently lost.
Expert Committee to Oversee Historic Repair
Given the “symbolic and unprecedented nature of such a restoration,” an expert committee has been appointed to advise and supervise the work. The committee will be chaired by Laurence des Cars and includes six specialists, assisted by a representative from five historic French jewelry houses: Mellerio, Chaumet, Cartier, Boucheron, and Van Cleef & Arpels. A certified restorer will be selected following a competitive process.
Stolen Jewels Remain at Large
Eight 19th-century jewels, with an estimated total value of 88 million euros, were stolen in the heist and remain missing. This haul included Empress Eugénie’s diamond-encrusted diadem. All four alleged members of the commando have been arrested and placed in pre-trial detention. Investigators have suggested the jewels could be used “as a commodity for money laundering, or even for negotiation within the criminal underworld.” Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau recently reaffirmed that the determination to recover the stolen items “remains intact.”
