Thieves steal Blessed Virgin’s crown

A golden crown worth €1 million, currently around £850,00, has been stolen from the religious art museum on the Fourvière hill that overlooks Lyon. Known as the Virgin’s Crown and completed in 1899, it is decorated with 1,791 precious stones that local Catholic families donated in gratitude for the way the city in eastern France was spared invasion during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the Archbishop of Lyon and Primate of the Gauls, said the robbery pained the whole of Lyon, adding: “It’s not the money that interests me, but the incredible love that came together to create this jewel.”

Thieves deactivated the high-security surveillance system at the museum, which lies next to the basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière. The basilica was also built in gratitude for the city’s protection during France’s war with Prussia.