{"id":465650,"date":"2026-02-08T03:31:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465650\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T03:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:31:22","slug":"louvre-releases-new-pictures-of-royal-crown-damaged-during-brazen-heist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/465650\/","title":{"rendered":"Louvre releases new pictures of royal crown damaged during brazen heist"},"content":{"rendered":"

New photos have revealed the extent of damage sustained by a crown involved in last October’s audacious jewellery raid at the Louvre.<\/p>\n

Empress Eug\u00e9nie’s crown, which slipped from the thieves’ grasp during their escape, was discovered crushed and bent at the foot of the Apollo Gallery.<\/p>\n

Despite suffering significant deformation, the museum confirmed the crown remains largely intact and can be fully restored without requiring reconstruction or recreation.<\/p>\n

“It will simply involve reshaping its framework,” the Louvre stated in its report.<\/p>\n

The damage occurred when the gang attempted to wrench the crown through a narrow opening they had cut into its display case using an angle grinder, placing considerable strain on its flexible mount.<\/p>\n

The museum’s assessment revealed that one of the eight golden eagles adorning the crown has been lost, while four of the eight diamond-and-emerald palmettes have become detached from the mount, with some left misshapen.<\/p>\n

The central orb, encrusted with diamonds and emeralds, has sunk into the crumpled frame but remains undamaged.<\/p>\n

Of the crown’s 1,354 diamonds, approximately ten small stones from the base perimeter are now missing, though nine additional diamonds that came loose have been recovered and preserved.<\/p>\n

\"\\u200bThe<\/p>\n

The museum has released an image of the crown<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

HANDOUT<\/p>\n

Remarkably, all 56 emeralds remain in place.<\/p>\n

One of the crown’s hoops detached during the theft was subsequently lost within the gallery itself.<\/p>\n

The Louvre’s report attributed the crushing to a violent impact, likely when the crown struck the ground after falling from the fleeing thieves.<\/p>\n

The crown holds a distinguished place in French history, having been commissioned by Napoleon III from Alexandre Gabriel Lemonnier, the emperor’s official jeweller.<\/p>\n

\"\\u200bCrown<\/p>\n

Crown of Empress Eug\u00e9nie is on display at the Louvre Museum before it was damaged<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

It was unveiled at the 1855 Paris Universal Exposition, created specifically for Empress Eug\u00e9nie de Montijo.<\/p>\n

Despite its grandeur, the headpiece was never actually worn at a coronation, as the empress was never formally crowned.<\/p>\n

The piece forms part of a rare collection of French crown jewels that survived both the looting during the Revolution from 1789 and a subsequent state auction driven by republican sentiment nearly a century later.<\/p>\n

It entered the Louvre’s permanent collection in 1988.<\/p>\n

\"\\u200bPolice<\/p>\n

Police officers stand guard near the Louvre Pyramid in Paris after the raid<\/p>\n

| REUTERS<\/p>\n

Alongside the crowns of Louis XV and the so-called crown of Charlemagne, it represents one of only three sovereign crowns preserved in France.<\/p>\n

An expert committee chaired by Louvre director Laurence des Cars will oversee the restoration process.<\/p>\n

The museum announced it would soon invite restorers to submit competitive bids for the repair work, with estimated costs beginning at around \u20ac40,000.<\/p>\n

Several prestigious jewellery houses have already volunteered their expertise, including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Mellerio, Chaumet, and Boucheron.<\/p>\n

\"\\u200bCrown<\/p>\n

Crown of the head of the Empress Eugenie presented in the Apollo gallery<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The stolen haul included a tiara belonging to Empress Eug\u00e9nie, pieces worn by Queen Marie-Am\u00e9lie and Queen Hortense, and jewellery from Empress Marie-Louise.<\/p>\n

None of these treasures have been recovered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New photos have revealed the extent of damage sustained by a crown involved in last October’s audacious jewellery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,48,460,134,2592,44,1158,1346],"class_list":{"0":"post-465650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-crime","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-france","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-police","19":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}