Empress's crown dropped by Louvre heist thieves to be totally restored

[ad_1] The crown of French Empress Eugenie, which was deserted by fleeing thieves who staged a brazen theft on the Louvre final 12 months, is almost intact and will probably be totally restored, the museum mentioned Wednesday.

The thieves who robbed the famed Paris museum final October made off with an estimated €88 million ($104 million) in jewels, however dropped the empress's diamond- and emerald-studded crown as they escaped, leaving it crushed and damaged.

Investigators have but to find the opposite jewels, however recovered the dropped crown.

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The Louvre mentioned in a press release the piece had been "badly deformed", however remained "practically intact" and can be restored to its authentic state, "with out the necessity for reconstruction".

The museum mentioned the crown was broken when the thieves tried to take away it by way of a slim gap they'd sawed within the glass case the place it was displayed.

Picture displaying the crown of Empress Eugenie de Montijo previous to it being broken in the course of the heist from the Apollo Gallery on the Louvre Museum. © AFP The Louvre mentioned the crown nonetheless had all its items, apart from one of many eight golden eagles that adorned it.

It retains all 56 of its emeralds and all however 10 of its 1,354 diamonds, the museum mentioned.

It mentioned an skilled committee led by the museum's president, Laurence des Vehicles, had been chosen to oversee the restoration, which might be carried out by a professional skilled chosen in a aggressive choice course of.