On Oct. 19, at 9:30 a.m. local time, $102 million worth of jewelry was stolen from Musée du Louvre in Paris, France.
Dressed as construction workers, four thieves broke into the “world’s most visited museum.” Using a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift, two of the four suspected thieves climbed onto the balcony of the Galerie d’Apollon. Once on the balcony, angle gliders were used to cut through the window to the gallery. A blowtorch and gasoline were also used at some point during the heist. The thieves threatened the guards, who then evacuated visitors from the area.
After cutting through two display cases, the thieves left with the following items: a tiara and brooch belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from Empress Marie Louise, plus a tiara, necklace and single earring from the sapphire set that belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense, a brooch known as the “reliquary brooch” and Empress Eugénie’s crown.
Within four minutes, the thieves were in and out of the gallery. They sped away on two scooters, driven by the other thieves. In the commotion, Empress Eugénie’s crown was dropped and damaged, and was later found by authorities. As Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez expresses, the jewels were “priceless’ and ‘of immeasurable heritage value.”
As interesting as the heist itself is, “the real art in an art heist isn’t the stealing, it’s the selling,” Robert Wittman, former senior investigator of the FBI’s art crime team, said. The irreplaceable jewels will likely be melted down or broken into smaller pieces. The process of dismantling the jewels will destroy any evidence and allow the thieves to sell them easily.
Erin Thompson, an art crime professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York says, “You don’t even have to put them on a black market, you just put them in a jewelry store. It could be sold down the street from the Louvre.”
In general, thieves steal jewelry, coins or medals because they are easy to dismantle quickly and still retain high value, unlike pieces of art. Laura Evans, art crime historian, author and professor, says, “There’s a high liquidity when those gems are dismantled, but a stolen Monet, for example, has a really low liquidity, because it’s instantly recognizable.”
So, how were these thieves able to get in and out uncaught? First, the undercover construction look with the mechanical lift and vests was hard to identify as fake. Construction is very common at the old historical building, and it’s hard for security to know who’s actually meant to be there.
Secondly, Louvre director Laurence des Cars admitted that no security cameras were monitoring the gallery. The only security protecting the jewels was an alarm system and a few guards. Even the guards’ top priority is to make sure visitors are safe before protecting the artifacts. As leader, Julien Dunoyer, with the Louvre unit of the SUD union, who has worked as a security agent there for 21 years, pointed out, “Once they are inside, it’s already too late.”
Thirdly, securing museums is a difficult process in general. Remigiusz Plath, the secretary of the International Council of Museum Security, says, “Museums have to balance security with the freedom to see and engage with their collections.”
The Louvre itself is an artifact that needs to be preserved and wasn’t originally built to hold tens of thousands of precious artworks. French culture minister, Rachida Dati, points this out by saying, “What you must remember about France is that our buildings are historic monuments. So, it is more complex to secure them.”
As The New York Times says, this “tragedy and a national embarrassment,” has led to the current process of adding more video surveillance and new technologies to the Louvre.
On Oct. 25, two people were arrested in relation to the Louvre heist. Their names haven’t been disclosed, but their descriptions have. Police have arrested a 34-year-old male and a 39-year-old male who both have a criminal record for theft. The New York Times reported they both have been charged with “thefts committed by an organized gang and criminal association” for the Louvre heist.
On Oct. 29, a 37-year-old male was arrested and believed to be the third of the four members. He has a criminal record containing 10 convictions for theft, one of which for the same theft as the 39-year-old man in 2015. He’s also facing “thefts committed by an organized gang and criminal association” for the Louvre heist. His lifelong partner was also arrested due to a small amount of DNA left at the scene, but is likely due to “DNA transfer,” according to ABC News. “She faces preliminary charges of complicity in theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.”
One hundred investigators identified the subjects using 189 pieces of evidence, 150 forensic samples and 20 witnesses.
No jewels were recovered. As Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and founder of Art Recovery International, says, “I think they’re going to catch the criminals, but I don’t think they’ll find them with the jewels intact.”
