What you need to know about the shocking Louvre jewelry heist
Can the French TV series Lupine Were they prophetic? The show envisioned a robbery at the Louvre Museum, an event that became a reality on the morning of October 19, when a group of professional thieves managed to break into the world-famous museum in Paris. In just seven minutes, they stole a large number of precious French crown jewels.
The robbery happened around 9:30 a.m. local time, shortly after the museum opened to the public. Using a truck-mounted ladder, the thieves entered the Galerie d’Apollon – located in the Louvre’s Petite Galerie wing – through a second-floor window that was forced open with an angle wheel.
Once inside, the thieves broke at least two storefronts, took valuables, and then fled a few minutes later on two Yamaha scooters, disappearing into traffic and soon turning onto the highway.
According to French officials, the loot included eight jeweled crowns, almost all dating to the late Napoleonic era. A ninth, Queen Eugenie’s diamond-and-emerald tiara, was found damaged nearby, apparently dropped by fleeing criminals. The thieves also made off with a tiara belonging to the wife of Napoleon III, in full imperial style, decorated with 212 pearls, 1,998 diamonds and another 992 rose-cut diamonds. They also took a bow brooch belonging to Empress Eugénie with 2,438 diamonds and 196 rose stones. Also on hand is a tiara or diadem with 24 Ceylon sapphires and 1,083 diamonds, along with a necklace with eight impressive sapphires, more diamonds and gold work, and a pendant earring that belonged to Queen Maria Amalia.
It is difficult to put a number on the value of this jewelry collection. They are not just luxury items with their own value, but also expensive possessions. The literal value of jewels, stones and gold is combined with their historical value, not to mention the fact that they are part of the heritage of the French government, which in itself makes it impossible to sell them on the traditional market. However, it is possible, as is often the case with this type of theft, that the thieves take apart the antiquities, melt down the precious metals, cut the jewels to make them less traceable, and sell them on the gray or black market, potentially making tens of millions of euros.
Regardless of its outcome, the Louvre robbery was a masterful operation. Some analysts say the thieves took advantage of vulnerabilities in the museum’s security system, which has struggled for years with staffing problems, ongoing work in progress and increased pressure from a growing number of visitors. Now a national and international manhunt has begun. There are currently no specific suspects, but all available footage of the area (including a video showing one of the robbers in action) is apparently being investigated.
With all the surveillance footage and cameras now spread all over town, there should be plenty of material to identify possible leads. Emmanuel Macron, the president of this country, strongly condemned this incident and assured that soon the perpetrators of this incident will be brought to justice. After all, long gone are the days when the Italian decorator Vincenzo Perugia committed what was by far considered the biggest theft in the history of the Louvre: the daring appropriation of Leonardo’s works. Mona Lisawhich happened on August 21, 1911.
That painting was returned two years later. Perugia tried to resell it to a Florentine art dealer, who then raised the alarm. Perhaps a similar chance will occur in this case.
This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.
