Thieves broke into Paris’ Louvre museum through the use of a crane and smashing an upstairs window on Sunday, stealing priceless jewellery from an space that homes the French crown jewels earlier than escaping on motorbikes, the French authorities stated.
The theft is prone to increase awkward questions on safety on the museum, the place officers had already sounded the alarm about lack of funding at a world-famous website that welcomed 8.7 million guests in 2024.
The thieves struck at about 9.30 a.m. (0730 GMT) when the museum had already opened its doorways to the general public, and entered the Galerie d’Apollon constructing, the Inside Ministry stated in a press release.
The theft took round 4 minutes, Tradition Minister Rachida Dati informed TF1, and it was carried out by professionals.
“We noticed some footage: they don’t goal folks, they enter calmly in 4 minutes, smash show circumstances, take their loot, and go away. No violence, very skilled,” she stated on TF1.
She stated one piece of knickknack had been recovered exterior the museum, apparently dropped as they made their escape.
Dati declined to say what the merchandise was, however newspaper Le Parisien stated it was believed to be the crown of Napoleon III’s spouse, Empress Eugénie. The jewel was damaged, the newspaper stated.
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Inside Minister Laurent Nunez informed France Inter that three or 4 thieves acquired into the museum from exterior utilizing a crane that was positioned on a truck.
“They broke a window, headed to a number of show circumstances and stole jewels … which have an actual historic, priceless worth,” Nunez stated.
A video posted on X by a museum information confirmed guests submitting in the direction of exits in the midst of their tour, initially unaware of the rationale for the disruption.
Nunez stated a probe had been opened, with a specialised police unit that has a excessive success charge in cracking high-profile robberies equivalent to this one tasked with operating it.
No accidents have been reported, Dati stated.
The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and residential to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, stated on X it might stay closed for the day for “distinctive causes.”
In probably the most daring artwork thefts in historical past, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum in 1911 in a heist involving a former worker. He was finally caught and the portray was returned to the museum two years later.
Earlier this 12 months, officers on the Louvre requested pressing assist from the French authorities to revive and renovate the museum’s growing old exhibition halls and higher shield its numerous artworks.
Dati stated the difficulty of museum safety was not new.
“For 40 years, there was little deal with securing these main museums, and two years in the past, the president of the Louvre requested a safety audit from the police prefect. Why? As a result of museums should adapt to new types of crime,” she stated. “Right this moment, it’s organized crime – professionals.”
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, extra reporting by John Cotton and Helen PopperEditing by Tomasz Janowski, Alison Williams, Helen Popper and Gabriel Stargardter)
