Louvre, Paris: The sapphires, emeralds and diamonds which once served the royalties of France might be gone forever, experts were saying after a brazen, four minute heist in broad daylight left the nation shocked and the government apologetic and at a loss as to explain a new-fangled faux at the Louvre.
The stolen jewels include necklace and earrings of emerald, two crowns, two brooches, a sapphire necklace and a single earring that are the epitome of 19th century “haute joaillerie,” or fine jewellery. To the royalties, they were not merely an embellishment. The sculptures were political declarations of the French prosperity, authority and culture. They are so great that they were included in treasures preserved when most of the royal jewels were auctioned during the 1887 sale of government property.
Wednesday also saw the Louvre reopen after the first time ever since the heist Sunday morning, even though the Apollo Gallery in which the theft had taken place was still closed.
The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, whose office conducts the investigation, on Tuesday estimated the monetary value of jewellery stolen to reach about 102 million dollars (88 million euros), however, without historical valuation. She said that the police are conducting a police hunt on the suspects and gems with an involvement of about 100 investigators.
The loss of the crown jewels was another embarrassment that had the French government scurrying about, once more, to justify the latest faux pas at the Louvre that is marred by overcrowding and run-down facilities. In 2024 activists put a can of soup over the Mona Lisa. Most recently, the museum was stalled by its striking staff in June, who complained about mass tourism. At the time of a significant renovation, President Emmanuel Macron has said that the Mona Lisa, stolen in 1911 by a former museum worker, and recovered two years later will receive its own room.
These glittering jewels, remnants of an ancient French culture, are, perhaps, now, indeed, being grapple-tonguedly pulled to bits and sold at a frenzy as separate items, which or which might not, perhaps, be recognizable to the amateur, as belonging to the crown jewels of France.
In a statement, Tobias Kormind, the managing director of 77 Diamonds, a leading European jeweller of diamonds, said: It is very unlikely that these jewels will ever be rediscovered and re-worn. Should these gems be disintegrated, and offered separately, they will in short become a part of the past, to the everlasting loss of the world.
Both personal and national crown jewels are locked up at once in the Tower of London and in Tokyo in the Imperial Palace as a visual image of national identities.
The four suspected robbers were divided into two groups, with two of them on a truck with a cherry picker that they used to scale the Galerie d’Apollon and the remaining two on the motorbikes they used to flee the crime location, police estimated.
Eight pieces were taken, the officials said, which were a portion of a series whose history as crown jewels go back to the 16th century when King Francis I decreed them to be the property of the state. The office of Paris prosecutor claimed that two men in bright yellow jackets forced their way into the gallery at 9:34 a.m. – a half-hour before the gallery opened – and exited the room at 9:38 a.m. before escaping on two motorbikes.
The two crowns, or diadems, are missing. One, which was presented by Emperor Napoleon III to the Empress Eugenie in 1853 to mark the marriage, is made of more than 200 pearls, and nearly 2,000 diamonds. The second is a sapphire-and-diamond headpiece – a star topped – and a necklace, a pair of earrings- of which, the French authorities said, Queen Marie-Amelie was a necklace-wearing protomusette.
There was also a stolen necklace consisting of dozens of emeralds and over 1,000 diamond, which Napoleon Bonaparte had given to his second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria, during the year 1810 as a wedding present. The corresponding earrings also fell into the wrong hands. Among the items stolen by the thieves were a reliquary brooch and a large bow of bodice worn by Empress Eugenie – both are diamond encased, the French authorities quoted.
One ninth piece, which was ruined, was left by the robbers, and was a crown, hung with gold eagles, 1,354 diamonds, and 56 emeralds, worn by Empress Eugenie.
Others of the crown jewel collection, which had 23 jewels prior to the heist, remained untouched. The plum-sized Regent, a white diamond, alleged to be the biggest of the kind in Europe is left, as one instance.
Other than the money used to buy the jewels, the emotional loss is also felt. It has been described by many that the inability of France to claim the most treasured of its goods was a blow to the national pride of this country.
It is family souvenirs, stolen by the French and brought to the French in halfway decency,” conservative lawmaker Maxime Michelet said Tuesday in Parliament in questioning the government on security at Louvre and other cultural attractions.
The empress, Eugenie, has lost her crown – stolen, then dropped, and was seen broken in the gutter, has become, said Michelet, the emblem of the fall of a nation so much admired. It is disgraceful to our country that it could not ensure the safety of the largest museum in the world.
It was not the first Louvre heist in the recent years. However, one of the most high-profile recent museum thefts made in the living memory was its forethought and speed combined with the almost cinematic quality. It actually bore some resemblance to an imaginary theft within the Louvre of a royal crown by a “gentleman thief” on the French television series “Lupin” – and this, in turn, is derived based on a series of stories written in 1905.
These kinds of thefts have little romance and are largely a fabricated creation of showbiz, one theft investigator says. Christopher A. Marinello, a lawyer with Art Recovery International, said he has never encountered a theft-to-order by any dark secret collector.
Marinello said they were only after stealing whatever they find. This room was selected by them since it was near to the window. The reason they selected these jewels was that they reasoned that they could dismantle them, extract the settings, extract the diamonds and the sapphires and the emeralds overseas to a sketchy man who would recut them and nobody would ever know what he did.
Stolen Louvre jewellery worth €88m, prosecutor says
It is now a kind of race against time on the part of the French authorities who chase after the thieves, and on the part of the latter themselves who will have no little difficulty in disposing of the fragments in their royal magnificence.
No one will touch these things. They are too famous. It’s too hot. You would go to the prison should you happen to be caught by the Dutch art sleuth Arthur brand. You can neither sell them nor leave them to your children.
Valued at 88 million euros ($102m) by a French public prosecutor based on the comment of the Curator of the museum, jewellery stolen in a high profile daytime robbery at the Louvre in Paris was estimated to be worth 88mmillion euros.
According to Laure Beccuau, speaking on RTL radio it was an extraordinary amount but France as a historical heritage had suffered more. Some of the items taken were crown jewels and gift pieces presented by two Napoleons to their wives.
Power tools looting thieves took less than eight minutes to leave with the loot soon after the world most popular museum opened on Sunday morning.
Being unable to get the thieves more than two days after the heist, the experts are worried that the jewellery will have disappeared a long time ago.
Ms Beccuau expressed hope that the announcement of the estimated value of the jewellery would reach a point where the robbers would stop and not damage them.
She even told that the thieves would not steal all the windfall so much had they had the very bad idea of melting these jewels.
The stolen items that were stated to be of inestimable value comprise a necklace of diamonds and emeralds (which was given to his wife by Emperor Napoleon), a tiara which was donned by Empress Eugenie who was a wife of Napoleon III, and other works that were once owned by Queen Marie-Amelie.
At the escape road of the thieves, investigators discovered a ruined crown that belonged to Empress Eugenie – apparently dropped on fleeing.
There were four masked thieves who accessed the Galerie d’Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) with the help of a truck that had a mechanical lift, through a balcony near the River Seine.
Two of them broke through a glass window at the first floor with a battery-powered disc cutter and got into the museum. They then intimidated the occupants of the guards who vacated the building.
The robbers had attempted to burn their car in front of the museum but this was averted through the help of one of the employees. They could be spotted riding away on scooters.
French president Emmanuel Macron termed the robbery as an assault on the heritage of France.
The cultural institutions of nation have also been intensified on security, following a preliminary report having revealed that one out of every three rooms under the Louvre lacked CCTV and the overall alarm system was not activated.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin lamented that security provisions had failed and the thieves could enter the museum by driving a modified truck through to the museum, which had given France a bad image.
Officials think they are pursuing a group of professionals, as they were so fast and well organised.
Art recovery experts had earlier told the BBC investigators that they had between one and two days to locate the items before they could be declared as lost forever.
Other experts have most probably broken them down into precious metals and gems, stolen out of the country then sold below their value.
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