Louvre thieves toppled a “priceless” crown – now it’s in tatters

PARIS — The crown of Empress Eugenie, whose husband Napoleon III ruled France in the 19th century, was one of nine priceless royal ornaments taken by thieves during the audacious break-in at the Louvre last October.

It was the only piece they left behind. The thieves dropped the royal crown – adorned with eight carved gold eagles and richly decorated with emeralds and diamonds – on the sidewalk in front of the museum before fleeing.

More than three months later, the Louvre released photographs showing the extent of the damage. The palm-shaped arches, studded with diamonds, were torn off or bent, the jeweled cross toppled to one side, and one of the golden eagles disappeared.

The Louvre has announced that it will soon invite restorers to submit proposals for repairing the crown, in a process that will be overseen by a newly created committee of experts. The museum’s director of decorative arts, Olivier Gabet, said the team does not yet know how much the restoration will cost, but is working with an initial estimate of 40,000 euros (about US$47,000). Because nearly all of the parts were found, the biggest cost will be in the hours of delicate repair work, he said.

The largest and most visited museum in the world, the Louvre is still recovering from the robbery, which occurred 30 minutes after opening to the public and revealed flaws in the building’s outdated security system and aging infrastructure. France’s Culture Minister appointed an external expert to investigate the museum’s weaknesses, and strikes by the Louvre’s unions have forced the building’s total or partial closure around a dozen times. The Apollo Gallery, where the crown jewels were displayed, remains closed to visitors.

The criminal investigation, which involves more than 100 police officers, has already resulted in five people being accused of participating in the crime. But, with the exception of the empress’s crown, none of the jewels were located.

Eugenie’s crown is part of a small set of French crown jewels that still remains in state possession. Many were stolen after the start of the French Revolution in 1789, and most of the rest were auctioned off by the French state itself in 1887, in a surge of republican fervor. Eugênia’s crown was acquired by the museum in 1988.

The piece is half of a set commissioned by Napoleon III — the last emperor of France and nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte — for him and his wife to wear at the opening of the 1855 “universal exhibition” in Paris. Under the supervision of the emperor’s official jeweler, the crown was made with 1,354 diamonds, 1,136 rose-cut diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the Louvre.

After Napoleon III was captured by Prussia and lost control of France, Empress Eugenie fled to England, leaving the crown behind. She, however, successfully sued the French Republic to get the piece back and later bequeathed it to her goddaughter, Princess Marie-Clotilde Napoléon, who lived in Belgium.

A report from experts at the Louvre points out that the crown was probably crushed when the thieves pulled it through a small slit cut in the reinforced glass of the display case during the robbery and was further damaged by the impact of the fall during their escape. In this process, four of the palm-shaped elements, decorated with diamonds and emeralds, came loose, and one of them fell to the ground. About 10 of the 1,354 diamonds are missing, according to the report, as is one of the golden eagles, which “is probably somewhere with the other pieces that were stolen and, perhaps, will one day be found,” Gabet added.

Gabet said he hopes the crown — which has become a symbol of hope since the theft and its “miraculous” recovery — will be restored by the end of the year and will be re-presented to the public, “at the Louvre, obviously.”