Empress Eugenie's Crown dropped in Louvre Heist to be Fully Restored
The crown of French Empress Eugenie, which was abandoned by thieves who staged a brazen robbery at the Louvre last year, is nearly intact and will be fully restored, the museum said Wednesday in a pressrelease.
The thieves who robbed the museum last October made off with an estimated 88 million euros ($104 million) in jewels, but dropped the empress's diamond- and emerald-studded crown as they escaped, leaving it crushed and broken.
The Louvre said in a pressrelease the crown had been "badly deformed", but remained "nearly intact" and would be restored to its original state, "without the need for reconstruction".
The museum said the crown was damaged when the thieves tried to remove it through a narrow hole they had sawed in the glass case where it was displayed, the Louvre also said the crown still had all its pieces, except for one of the eight golden eagles that adorned it. It retains all 56 of its emeralds and all but 10 of its 1,354 diamonds.
It said an expert committee led by the museum's president, Laurence des Cars, had been selected to supervise the restoration, which would be carried out by a qualified expert chosen in a competitive selection process.
Main Image: © Handout, Thomas Clot / THE LOUVRE MUSEUM