Louvre Jewellery Heist – Everything About The Louvre Jewellery Heist On Sunday
On Monday, the Louvre Museum in Paris remains closed as police look into a heinous theft that threatened France’s precious crown jewels.
In broad daylight, thieves with power tools stormed into the most popular museum in the world. They then fled on scooters with eight highly precious pieces of jewelry.
Here are our current understandings of the crime that has shocked France.
Not long after the museum opened to the public, on Sunday, between 9:30 and 09:40 local time (08:30 and 08:40 BST), the heist took place.
From a balcony along the Seine River, four robbers entered the Galerie d’Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) using a mechanical lift installed on a vehicle.
Images taken at the scene revealed a ladder attached to a car that led to a window on the first story.
Two of the robbers entered the museum after using a battery-operated disc cutter to hack through glass panes.
They then grabbed goods from two glass display cases and threatened the guards, who left the area.
According to French media, a preliminary study found that one in three rooms in the raided museum area lacked CCTV cameras.
According to Natalie Goulet, a member of the finance committee of the French Senate, this is a “very painful” occurrence for France.
“We are all disappointed and angry,” she said, and it is “difficult to understand how it happened so easily.”
Goulet told the BBC the gallery’s localised alarm was recently broken, and “we have to wait for the investigation in order to know if the alarm was disactivated”.
The larger alarms at the museum did sound, according to France’s culture ministry, and staff complied by alerting security personnel and securing guests.
The cultural ministry further stated that a museum employee intervened to stop the gang from setting fire to their car outside.
According to CCTV of the robbery, the masked criminals entered “calmly” and destroyed the display cases holding the diamonds, Culture Minister Rachida Dati said French news agency TF1. The incident did not result in any injuries.
According to her, the robbers appeared to be “experienced” and had a well-thought-out strategy to escape on two scooters.
Prosecutors stated that their opinion is that the thieves were acting on directions from a criminal organization, and there are currently about 60 investigators working on the case.
Four individuals are being sought, and authorities are looking through CCTV evidence of the escape route.
Witnesses reported “total panic” during the evacuation of the museum. Subsequent photos revealed metal barriers blocking off entrances.
What Was Stolen During The Louvre Jewellery heist ?
Authorities said that eight items were taken, including necklaces, ear rings, brooches, and diadems, which are jeweled headbands.
They were all owned by French monarchy or imperial rulers at one point and date back to the 19th century..
France’s ministry of culture said the stolen items were:
- A tiara and brooch belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III
- An emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from Empress Marie Louise
- A tiara, necklace and single earring from the sapphire set that belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
- A brooch known as the “reliquary brooch”
Thousands of diamonds and other priceless gemstones are used to embellish these items.
Empress Eugénie’s crown and two other objects were discovered close to the scene, seemingly dropped during the escape. They are being inspected for damage by the authorities.
Nuñez described the stolen jewels “priceless” and “of immeasurable heritage value”.
“There is a race going on right now,” Chris Marinello, the chief executive of Art Recovery International, said.
Crowns and diadems can easily be broken apart and sold in small parts.
The thieves “are not going to keep them intact, they are going to break them up, melt down the valuable metal, recut the valuable stones and hide evidence of their crime,” Marinello said.
He stated it would be hard to sell these jewels undamaged.
Louvre authorities asked the French government for assistance earlier this year in order to update and repair the museum’s deteriorating exhibition spaces and better safeguard its artwork.
As part of the New Renaissance project, which was then projected to cost between €700 million and €800 million (£608 million to £695 million; $816 million to $933 million), French President Emmanuel Macron promised that the Louvre will be redesigned. Increased security is part of the project.
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