The Louvre Museum, in Paris, will remain closed this Monday, October 20th, the institution announced, one day after a group still at large managed to steal multiple jewels.
“The Louvre Museum will remain closed today for exceptional reasons. All reservations for today’s date will be refunded. We apologize for the inconvenience”, read a message published on the museum’s website.
A group of four men stole jewelry on Sunday morning using a forklift parked on the bank of the River Seine, raising it to the height of a window on the first floor of the museum. Then, they fled “on high-powered scooters”.
Among the lines of investigation, authorities are considering the possibility that the theft was ordered by a private collector or that the objective was to dismantle the pieces to sell the precious stones individually.
The French Ministry of Culture classified the theft as “a blow to French heritage” and highlighted that the stolen jewelry “is part of the history and cultural identity of France”.
The group took eight pieces of jewelry “of inestimable heritage value”, including the tiara of Empress Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III, emperor from 1852 to 1870) and two necklaces, the French Ministry of Culture said on Sunday.
Several French museums have recently been targets of robberies and thefts, which have exposed possible flaws in security and surveillance systems.
In mid-September, native gold objects were stolen during a break-in at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, causing an “inestimable loss” to research and heritage.
The theft involved several objects made of native gold, in its natural form, the museum said, estimating the losses at close to 600,000 euros.
Also last September, an important porcelain museum in Limoges, in central France, was robbed, with damage estimated at 6.5 million euros.