Stolen Louvre jewels were worth an estimated $157 million
“In the event of a theft like the one that occurred in the Louvre on Sunday, national museums will be left with nothing but tears.” Romain Déchelette, president of the French insurance company, said: Le Parisien.
Jewels stolen from the Louvre Apollo Gallery, which contains France’s historic collection of royal jewels.Credit: Louvre Museum
Questions have been raised about the Louvre’s security and whether security cameras had failed on Sunday morning after thieves lifted up the Louvre’s façade with a basket, forced a window, smashed display cases and made off with priceless Napoleonic jewels.
“The security apparatus of the Louvre museum did not malfunction, this is a fact,” Minister Rachida Dati told MPs in the National Assembly. “The security apparatus of the Louvre museum was working.”
Dati said he launched an administrative investigation in addition to the police investigation to ensure full transparency about what happened. He did not provide any details about how the thieves carried out the robbery, given that the cameras were working.
However, he described it as a bitter blow to the nation.
He said the robbery was “a wound to all of us.” “Why? Because the Louvre is much more than the world’s greatest museum. It is a showcase of our French culture and our common heritage.”
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Monday that the museum’s alarm was triggered when the Apollo Gallery window was forced.
Police officers arrived at the scene two or three minutes after being called by a bystander, he said on LCI television.
The robbery lasted less than eight minutes in total, including four minutes at the Louvre, authorities said.
Nuñez did not disclose details about security cameras around and inside the museum that may have recorded the thieves until after the police investigation. “There are cameras everywhere in the Louvre,” he said.
Sunday’s theft was concentrated in the gilded Apollo Gallery, where the Crown Diamonds are displayed. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to flee, but the robbery was already over.
According to authorities, eight objects were seized: a sapphire tiara, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; Emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, the second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte; a reliquary brooch; and Empress Eugénie’s tiara and large flower bow brooch, a valuable imperial ensemble of the 19th century.
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