عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Culture

Thieves Buy Tickets Before Plundering Necklace from Vienna Museum

Austrian media said the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, with 673 precious stones, was worth several million dollars. (Getty Images)
Austrian media said the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, with 673 precious stones, was worth several million dollars. (Getty Images)
TT
TT

Thieves Buy Tickets Before Plundering Necklace from Vienna Museum

Austrian media said the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, with 673 precious stones, was worth several million dollars. (Getty Images)
Austrian media said the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, with 673 precious stones, was worth several million dollars. (Getty Images)

Two men bought tickets to enter Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) before smashing a display case, grabbing a 200-carat platinum and diamond necklace and walking away, police said Friday.

Austrian media said the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, with 673 precious stones, was worth several million dollars. It is the latest in a series of high-profile heists to hit European museums.

Police said the two men did not wear masks, paid to enter the museum and were clearly seen on surveillance cameras.

They "smashed a glass display case" with a hammer before "fleeing with the jewelry in an unknown direction," said a police statement.

The MAK museum confirmed the theft but said it would not comment while the investigation went ahead.

The necklace had been part of an exhibition devoted to the French designers Van Cleef and Arpels. Some 500 pieces had been on display since June. The exhibition was to end on September 27 but has been closed following the theft.

It was designed for the former Egyptian royal family, and was worn by Queen Nazli in 1939 for the marriage of her daughter Faiza to the future Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

On its website, Van Cleef and Arpels called the stolen piece a "triumph of white jewelry". The French company did not immediately comment on the theft.

European museums have been hit by a series of spectacular thefts since thieves in October broke into the Louvre museum in Paris in broad daylight, escaping in less than eight minutes with jewelry worth $102 million.

Thieves on Thursday raided the Treasure of Villena -- one of the greatest Bronze Age gold collections -- at a museum in the Spanish city of Villena, taking most of the 50-plus mainly gold bracelets, bowls, bottles and other items on display.

Four works "of extraordinary value" by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina were stolen from a museum in Sicily, Italy's culture ministry said Sunday.

Two days earlier, Italian police said they had recovered paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth over $10.4 million which were stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation museum near Parma.

Most Viewed

 
 
Culture

Red Sea Museum Concludes Six-Month 'Sunken Treasures' Exhibition

The galleries showcased underwater archaeological discoveries and Saudi Arabia's ongoing efforts to protect and document submerged cultural assets - SPA
The galleries showcased underwater archaeological discoveries and Saudi Arabia's ongoing efforts to protect and document submerged cultural assets - SPA
TT
TT

Red Sea Museum Concludes Six-Month 'Sunken Treasures' Exhibition

The galleries showcased underwater archaeological discoveries and Saudi Arabia's ongoing efforts to protect and document submerged cultural assets - SPA
The galleries showcased underwater archaeological discoveries and Saudi Arabia's ongoing efforts to protect and document submerged cultural assets - SPA

The "Sunken Treasures: The Maritime Heritage of the Red Sea" exhibition concluded its six-month run at the Red Sea Museum in Historic Jeddah, offering visitors an educational journey into centuries of maritime trade, navigation, and pilgrimage.

Housed at the historic Bab Al-Bunt building since February 25, the exhibition highlighted the Red Sea's historical role as a vital trade artery connecting the Arabian Peninsula with the Mediterranean, Africa, and Asia.

Structured across four thematic zones, the galleries showcased underwater archaeological discoveries and Saudi Arabia's ongoing efforts to protect and document submerged cultural assets, SPA reported.

Among the exhibition's centerpiece displays was the 18th-century Umluj shipwreck, discovered submerged 20 to 22 meters deep amid coral reefs. Its recovered cargo—including commercial containers, pottery, coins, ceramics, and daily shipboard tools alongside antique navigational instruments and nautical maps—illustrated the vibrant human exchange that traversed regional waters.

Organized in collaboration with the Heritage Commission and the Historic Jeddah Program, the exhibition was also part of the summer season's cultural offerings, combining interactive public programming with scientific research to bolster cultural tourism and raise awareness of the Kingdom's underwater heritage.

Culture

Diriyah Art Futures Opens Second Edition of 'CONTINUUM' Exhibition

Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) launched its latest exhibition CONTINUUM ’26 on Thursday, showcasing the works of its second cohort of emerging artists and the program’s mentors. (SPA)
Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) launched its latest exhibition CONTINUUM ’26 on Thursday, showcasing the works of its second cohort of emerging artists and the program’s mentors. (SPA)
TT
TT

Diriyah Art Futures Opens Second Edition of 'CONTINUUM' Exhibition

Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) launched its latest exhibition CONTINUUM ’26 on Thursday, showcasing the works of its second cohort of emerging artists and the program’s mentors. (SPA)
Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) launched its latest exhibition CONTINUUM ’26 on Thursday, showcasing the works of its second cohort of emerging artists and the program’s mentors. (SPA)

Diriyah Art Futures (DAF), the first center for New Media Arts in the Middle East and North Africa, launched its latest exhibition CONTINUUM ’26 on Thursday, showcasing the works of its second cohort of emerging artists and the program’s mentors.

Visitors explored a diverse range of cutting-edge technological media, including immersive and multimedia installations, light, sound, moving image, virtual reality, mixed reality, and AI-generated projects, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

CONTINUUM ’26 features artworks produced by 16 emerging artists and two mentors during DAF’s year-long Emerging New Media Artists Program. Curated by Irini Papadimitriou and Bushra Alghamdi, Assistant Curator, the exhibition explores questions surrounding memory, identity, place, belonging, repetition, and interspecies relationships.

Developed under the mentorship of artists Louis-Philippe Demers and Rick Treweek, the artworks explore the boundaries between the real and the artificial, human and artificial intelligence, the organic and synthetic.

Speaking at the exhibition launch, CEO of the Museums Commission Eng. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Hammad said: “Programs like the Emerging New Media Artists Program represent the long-term, deliberate investment needed to shape the future of the Kingdom's museum sector.

“By providing our artists with world-class facilities, mentorship, and the dedicated time to refine their craft, we are fueling innovation and sparking vital cultural conversations. CONTINUUM 26 brings a full year of that dedication into the public eye.”

The opening program kicked off with a panel conversation between exhibition artists Noel Apitta, Njood Albwardi, Badriya Alsalem, and Harpreet Sareen, in conversation with Bushra Alghamdi about the ideas behind their works in CONTINUUM '26.

The artists discussed the exhibition's themes – the power of artificial intelligence; memory and time; and embodied perception – exploring how each artist navigated their creative process and what questions drove them.

CONTINUUM ’26 is the second installment in a series of exhibitions at DAF, spotlighting diverse voices shaping the future of New Media Art in the region and beyond.

Developed in collaboration with Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains in France, the Emerging New Media Artists Program gives emerging artists access to cutting-edge professional equipment and a production budget, as well as a wide range of multidisciplinary learning opportunities.

CONTINUUM ’26 is open to the public at Diriyah Art Futures and runs until November 7. The exhibition is accompanied by a public program of workshops, talks and other activities spanning AI, VR, digital photography, and much more.

Meet the Artists: an invitation to encounter the works of CONTINUUM '26 through the perspectives of the artists who made them. Over the opening weekend, artists will discuss the ideas and processes behind their works with visitors.

Culture

US Hands Over Ancient Sarcophagus Fragments to Lebanon

This New York City Police Department photo shows one of three ancient sarcophagi fragments that the FBI Art Crime Team returned to the government of Lebanon during a September 2, 2026, ceremony in New York. (New York City Police Department)
This New York City Police Department photo shows one of three ancient sarcophagi fragments that the FBI Art Crime Team returned to the government of Lebanon during a September 2, 2026, ceremony in New York. (New York City Police Department)
TT
TT

US Hands Over Ancient Sarcophagus Fragments to Lebanon

This New York City Police Department photo shows one of three ancient sarcophagi fragments that the FBI Art Crime Team returned to the government of Lebanon during a September 2, 2026, ceremony in New York. (New York City Police Department)
This New York City Police Department photo shows one of three ancient sarcophagi fragments that the FBI Art Crime Team returned to the government of Lebanon during a September 2, 2026, ceremony in New York. (New York City Police Department)

The United States on Thursday announced the return of Roman-era sarcophagus fragments to Lebanon that were looted from the southern city of Tyre and recovered by an FBI investigation.

The decorative, lead fragments were returned to the Lebanese consulate in New York on Wednesday, ahead of their repatriation, the US embassy in Lebanon said.

The recovery "reflects the strong US-Lebanon partnership in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property", the embassy said.

Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the fragments "were unearthed in the Tyre area during illegal excavations".

"The fragments bear distinctive artistic, decorative and technical characteristics typical of workshops that produced lead sarcophagus in Tyre, which were among the city's active and prolific workshops in antiquity."

According to the FBI, the antiquities "were stolen from illicit excavations in or around Tyre and were exported outside of Lebanon's borders".

The trade in looted antiquities is widespread in the Middle East. New York, one of the world's art capitals, is home to many wealthy collectors, galleries, and auction houses.

In December 2017, three ancient artifacts were returned to Lebanon, including a bull's head of Greek origin that had been exhibited at the Met Gala, valued at $1.2 million.

Salame said the Tyre region "is exceptionally rich in archaeological heritage" and "has recently suffered severe destruction" due to heavy Israeli strikes during the latest war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, added Tyre to its World Heritage in Danger list in July.