Thieves steal ‘precious jewels’ from Louvre and flee on motorbikes – nationwide
Thieves broke into paris’ louvre museum using a crane and smashed through a tall window on sunday, stealing large jewels from the french crown jewels before escaping on motorbikes, the french government said.
The robbery is likely to raise serious questions about the safety of the museum, where officials have already sounded the alarm about the lack of investment in the world-famous site by 2024.
The thieves attacked at around 9.30 AM (0730 GMT) when the museum had already opened its doors to the public, and entered the Galerie d’Apollon building, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The robbery lasted four minutes, Culture Minister Rachida Dati told TF1, and was carried out by professionals.
“We’ve seen some footage: security guards, they calmly enter in four minutes, make demonstration charges, take their loot, leave. There’s no fake,” said TF1.
He said he had found another piece of jewelry outside the museum, apparently thrown away as they fled.
Dati refused to say what it was, but Le Parisien newspaper said it was believed to be the crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Eugénie insists. The jewel was broken, the newspaper said.
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Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France Inter that three or four thieves entered the museum from the outside using a crane that was placed on a truck.
“They broke a window, they went to a couple of show cases and they stole treasures … that have real historical, precious value,” Nunez said.
A video posted on X by a museum guide showed visitors who had been filled in and turned around in the middle of their tour, initially unaware of the reason for the disturbance.
Nunez said the investigation is open, with a special police unit that has a high success rate in getting out of dreamy professions like the one he was assigned.
No injuries were reported, DITI said.
The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world and home to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, said on x it will remain closed for the day for “different reasons.”
In one of the most daring works of art in history, the Mona Lisa was stolen from a museum in 1911 in a veil involving an earlier work. He was eventually caught and the painting was returned to the museum two years later.
Earlier this year, officials at the Louvre requested urgent help from the French government to restore and renovate its aging galleries and better protect its many works of art.
DITI said the security issue at the museum was not new.
“For 40 years, there was little focus on finding this great museum, and two years ago, the President of the Louvre requested a security audit from the police Prefect. Why. “Today, organized crime – experts.”
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