For many New Yorkers, seven minutes is how long it takes for the train to arrive at the station, but for the French, it only took seven minutes for pieces of their history to disappear in broad daylight.
On Oct. 19 at 9 a.m., the Louvre opened its doors to the public, with families, couples and civilians lining up to enter the renowned museum. What many believed would be a day of learning about art turned into a major event for France’s history.
Four men stole eight of the French crown’s most prized jewels thirty minutes after opening, a vehicle parked under one of the windows of the south wing of the Apollo Gallery. An electric ladder was raised from the truck, and two thieves gained access to the gallery.
They first entered through a second floor window and made their way to the exhibition of jewelry that belonged to Napoléon Bonaparte’s family in the 19th century. Robbers cut through the glass display case that protected the jewelry and stole it all in a span of four minutes. They took an additional four minutes to make their slow descent on the furniture elevator outside before they escaped on high-powered scooters.
For many, this robbery has been described as something out of a movie. According to the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nunes, the robbers’ precision and speed indicate that the robbers were members of an experienced criminal gang. The criminals seemed aware of the police surveillance at the Louvre and exploited weakness to make their escape. Due to the overall size of the museum, which measures 2.26 million square feet, it was difficult for the authorities to reach the scene of the crime in a timely manner.
According to an interview with Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, investigators have collected a total of 150 pieces of forensic evidence, including DNA and fingerprints. On the night of Oct. 25, a suspect was taken into custody at the Charles de Gaulle Airport. So far, it has not been made public whether any of the stolen jewelry has been recovered.
The jewelry stolen from the museum belongs to the legacy of Napoléon and his descendants. Among the stolen items are the pearl diadem tiara and two brooches belonging to Empress Eugénie, an emerald necklace and pair of emerald earrings of Empress Marie Louise and three pieces of jewelry from the sapphire diadem set that was passed down among several queens.
There was also an attempt to steal the crown of Empress Eugénie, but it was dropped during the escape and damaged. French President Emmanuel Macron called the robbery an “attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history” in a social media post.
The difference between stealing jewelry and more traditional works of art is that jewelry can be dismantled and melted down while retaining a certain level of value, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover the pieces. This contrasts with works of art, which are cataloged and easy to identify.
This was not the only theft suffered by the Louvre in its 232 years of existence. The most famous theft is that of the Mona Lisa, which was stolen by a former museum employee, Vincenzo Peruggia, who wanted to return to Italy and turn it into a symbol of national pride but was later found on the streets of Italy trying to sell it.
The most recent theft before this one occurred on May 3, 1998, when “Le Chemin de Sèvres” by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot in 1850, was removed from its frame and never recovered.
