Louvre's Crushed Crown Will Rise Again After Heist

A 170-year-old crown crushed during a brazen museum heist is about to get a second life, and experts say it will shine as brightly as the day it was made.

Thieves broke into Paris's Louvre Museum through a second-floor window last October, stealing eight pieces of royal jewelry from the Apollo Gallery. They nearly escaped with a ninth piece: the ornate crown of Empress Eugénie, adorned with 56 emeralds, eight golden eagles, and 1,354 diamonds.

But the glass protecting the treasures proved tougher than expected. The robbers used an angle grinder to cut through the cases, but the glass resisted, forcing them to yank the jewels through a tiny hole.

That's how Eugénie's crown came to look like someone had stepped on it. The flexible mount twisted and deformed as thieves pulled it through the opening, and they dropped it on the sidewalk as they fled.

The four thieves were arrested, but the other stolen jewels remain missing. The empress' crown was the only piece recovered that day.

The Bright Side

Here's the remarkable news: nearly all of the crown's precious pieces survived. All the major diamonds and emeralds are still attached, and only a few small diamond fragments and one golden eagle are missing.

"Initial assessments suggest that a delicate restoration is possible," Louvre director Laurence des Cars announced. The museum has now confirmed the crown can be completely restored without reconstruction. Experts will simply need to reshape its framework.

The Louvre assembled a dream team for the job. Advisers from French museums like the Musée d'Orsay are working alongside representatives from five historic jewelry houses: Mellerio, Chaumet, Cartier, Boucheron, and Van Cleef & Arpels.

The crown was created in 1855 for the Universal Exhibition in Paris by goldsmith Alexandre Gabriel Lemonnier. Napoleon III commissioned matching crowns for himself and his wife, and observers noted that the empress' crown was notably lighter than her husband's.

Eugénie died in 1920, and the Louvre acquired her crown in 1988. It's one of only three French rulers' crowns still in France.

The restoration will cost about $47,000 and should be complete by year's end. The crown will return to public display at the Louvre, where visitors can witness its remarkable comeback story.

Decorative arts director Olivier Gabet remains hopeful the missing golden eagle will someday resurface with the other stolen pieces.