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Empress's crown dropped in Louvre heist to be fully restored: museum
The Louvre confirmed Empress Eugénie’s crown, dropped and deformed during the October heist, retains nearly all gems and will be fully restored without reconstruction.
- On 04/02/2026 the Louvre museum announced Empress Eugénie de Montijo's crown, dropped during last October's heist, can be fully restored despite thieves stealing 88 million euros in jewels.
- Thieves sawed a narrow hole in the glass display case to extract items, damaging Empress Eugénie de Montijo's crown, which was badly deformed after being dropped and crushed as they fled.
- The Louvre says the crown retains all 56 emeralds and all but 10 of its 1,354 diamonds, with one of the eight golden eagles missing.
- Law enforcement says four people are now in custody, but investigators have yet to find the alleged mastermind or recover the remaining stolen jewels.
- An expert committee led by Laurence des Cars, president of the Louvre, will supervise restoration by a qualified expert chosen competitively, as the museum says the crown can be fully restored.
127 Articles
127 Articles
Louvre releases new pictures of royal crown damaged during brazen heist
New photos have revealed the extent of damage sustained by a crown involved in last October's audacious jewellery raid at the Louvre. Empress Eugénie's crown, which slipped from the thieves' grasp during their escape, was discovered crushed and bent at the foot of the Apollo Gallery.Despite suffering significant deformation, the museum confirmed the crown remains largely intact and can be fully restored without requiring reconstruction or recrea…
The severely damaged crown of French Empress Eugenie can be fully repaired after the spectacular art theft from the Louvre. The French museum announced this after a thorough inspection of the crown jewel dropped by the thieves on October 19th. It also shared photos of the deformed showpiece for the first time.
Mangled and bent, the Louvre heist's surviving treasure is undergoing 'complete restoration'
When thieves broke into the Louvre and cut through display cases, they seized a trove of Napoleonic jewels. But in their escape, the crown of Empress Eugénie slipped from their grasp and was left battered on the pavement below.
Mast Through Hole in Glass Case and Lost During Escape: Now Crown From Louvre Theft Must Be Restored
The art museum expects that the crown can be fully restored.
For the first time, pictures of the damaged artwork have been published.
When the robbers fled after the spectacular jewel heist at the Louvre last fall, they lost one of the most valuable pieces of jewelry – the crown that belonged to Empress Eugénie. Now the museum has released images showing the flattened crown.
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