by: Julia Valencia

Opinion Editor

At 9:30 AM on Sunday, Oct. 19, four robbers broke into France’s esteemed national museum, the Louvre, escaping with eight items. They completed the heist in just seven minutes, in broad daylight, shortly after the museum opened. Given how boldly, brazenly, and swiftly the thieves acted, the public immediately began to raise inquiries about the security in and around the Louvre.

The French government called the robbery a professional and well-planned heist. The robbers appeared to have used a truck-mounted ladder to gain access to the museum’s Apollo gallery. The Louvre displays the jewelry and jewels, dating back to the Napoleonic era, behind reinforced glass cases, designed to protect the living pieces of history. After the robbers climbed the ladder, they forced open one of the windows using angle grinders and climbed inside. Although unarmed, the robbers threatened the guards with the power tools while they smashed open the display cases and proceeded to take nine priceless jewelry items. The thieves then fled the scene by going back down the ladder and riding away on two motorbikes awaiting them. A staff intervention stopped one individual from setting their truck on fire, though the perpetrator managed to escape.

On their way out, the thieves accidentally dropped the Crown of Empress Eugénie. The crown has 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds embedded in it, and though its value is inestimable, its number of jewels would make it worth tens of millions of euros, if not more. Among the items stolen were a tiara and a brooch belonging to Empress Eugénie; an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from Empress Marie Louise; a tiara, a necklace, and a single earring from the sapphire set that belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense; and a brooch known as the “reliquary brooch.”

The bejeweled items are extremely easy to break apart and sell individually. Museum staff and French police will keep the Louvre closed for the time being, as the race against time continues. Countless investigators are working nonstop in an attempt to retrieve the items and bring the criminals to justice. They believe that the four robbers were under orders from a criminal organization. Natalie Goulet, a member of the French Senate’s finance committee, called the heist a “very painful” episode for France:  “We are all disappointed and angry…[it is] difficult to understand how it happened so easily.”

As investigators scramble to recover the priceless artifacts and identify those behind the theft, it is clear that the Louvre heist has shocked not only France but the whole world. It is also raising urgent yet valid concerns about museum security for all museums, not just the Louvre. 

Goulet expressed pessimism about the items ever being recovered. When asked by the BBC about the possibility of getting the jewels back, Goulet replied, “None.”

(Sources: ABC, BBC, CNN, NBC, NY Times)