Louvre Jewellery Heist: All About the Historic Emerald Necklace Gifted by Napoleon to His Second Wife

An unbelievable heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday has everyone in shock. On Sunday, the world’s most visited museum was raided by thieves who, within just four minutes, fled on motorcycles carrying eight items dating back to the Napoleonic era. The ninth item was dropped on their way out.What shocked the world was that the robbery took place in broad daylight, thirty minutes after the museum opened at 9 a.m.Officials reported that the thieves arrived at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday with an electric ladder mounted on a truck. Wearing safety vests, they made what can only be called an audacious move, riding the ladder to the museum’s second-floor Apollo Gallery, the section where the Crown Jewels were housed. Windows were broken with power

tools at 9:34 a.m.

As reported by The New York Times, “Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, told the BFMTV channel on Sunday that the thieves who entered the gallery did not appear to be armed but that they had threatened five of the museum’s security guards who were nearby. The guards quickly evacuated visitors who were already there.” Adding, “The thieves cut into two display cases and grabbed some jewels before quickly exiting through the broken window. They tried to burn the bucket of the electric ladder that had carried them aloft and then fled on motorcycles. By 9:38 a.m., they were gone.”

What is concerning the authorities is that the thieves may not care for the historical value of the stolen items and may break all the jewellery apart to sell the stones on the black market. The precious metal will likely be melted down for sale.Among the rare jewellery pieces that were stolen includes the emerald necklace and earrings gifted by Napoleon Bonaparte to Marie-Louise, his second wife, as a wedding gift.

Napoleon’s Wedding Gift to His Second Wife

On 2 April 1810, Napoleon I married Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, forging a dynastic alliance with the Habsburgs during the height of his empire. As part of this union, he commissioned a grand parure from his court jeweller, Marie-Étienne Nitot, consisting of a diadem, necklace, earrings and hair comb, all lavishly set in emeralds and diamonds.The necklace is described as composed of 32 emeralds (including 10 pear-shaped) and 1,138 diamonds, among which 874 are brilliant-cut and 264 are rose-cut. The emeralds were sourced from Colombia. According to the Louvre’s website, “Ten large emeralds, alternating between oval and lozenge shapes and surrounded by diamonds, are linked by palmettes set with small round emeralds. From each of the large emeralds hangs a pear-shaped emerald encircled with diamonds. The central emerald (13.75 metric carats), oval in form, is cut with eight facets.” (Translated from French)

After Napoleon’s abdication in 1814 and the dissolution of the First French Empire, Marie-Louise left Paris on 29 March 1814. She took all her parures with her; however, she was obliged to return the Crown Diamonds to the Bourbons’ emissary but kept her personal jewels. She bequeathed the emerald parure to her cousin Leopold II of Habsburg, Grand Duke of Tuscany, whose descendants retained it until 1953.At that date, it was sold to the jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels. The emeralds from the tiara were then sold one by one; a wealthy American collector purchased it, had the emeralds replaced with turquoise, and bequeathed it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1966. The comb was altered. The necklace and the pair of earrings were fortunately preserved in their original condition and joined the collections of the Louvre Museum in 2004, thanks to the Patrimoine Fund and the Société des Amis du Louvre. According to Royal Magazin, "Only the necklace and the earrings could have been acquired (€3.7 million)."These were displayed in the Galerie d’Apollon, part of France’s Crown Jewels collection.