The jewels stolen from the Louvre in Paris this weekend are worth almost €90m, the French official investigating the incident has revealed.
Eight objects were taken in the heist on Sunday: a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a reliquary brooch; and Empress Eugénie’s diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch, a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble.
Speaking to the French broadcaster RTL, the Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that an unnamed Louvre curator had estimated the value of the objects to be €88m. She described the sum as “extremely spectacular″, but not “parallel or comparable to the historical damage”.
“The wrongdoers who took these gems won’t earn €88m if they [intend] to disassemble these jewels,″ Beccuau added. ″We can perhaps hope that they’ll think about this and won’t destroy these jewels without rhyme or reason.″
At 9.30am on 19 October, when visitors were already streaming into the Louvre’s galleries, two masked thieves used a goods lift on a truck parked on the riverbank side of the building to reach a balcony on the first floor.
Using two grinders, which they also reportedly used to threaten museum employees, the thieves cut through a glazed window leading to the Apollo Gallery of decorative art, smashed two cabinets displaying 19th century royal and imperial jewellery and grabbed ten items, before escaping back down the ladder and fleeing with two accomplices on TMax scooters. The robbery took less than eight minutes.
The Louvre says in a statement: “The alarms located on the exterior window of the Apollo Gallery and on the two display cases were triggered. At the time of the break-in, which was particularly rapid and brutal, the five museum staff members present in the gallery and adjacent areas immediately intervened to implement security protocols: contacting law enforcement and prioritising the protection of individuals.”
In Parliament yesterday (21 October), France’s culture minister, Rachida Dati, insisted that the museum’s security procedures were effective. “Have the Louvre’s security precautions failed? No, they have not failed. That is a fact. The security measures worked,” she said.
The Louvre reopened today following the theft, although the Apollo gallery which housed the jewels remains closed. The museum was contacted for further comment.
