Louvre Museum Closes After Jewelry Robbery in Paris

he Louvre Museum successful Paris has been temporarily closed pursuing a robbery connected Sunday morning, France’s Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, confirmed. In a station connected X, Dati said that while the incidental occurred earlier successful the day, there were nary reports of injuries. French authorities person launched an probe into the theft.

According to the French daily Le Parisien, respective individuals broke into the depository and managed to flight with jewelry. In response, the Paris prosecutor’s bureau opened an probe and called successful the Banditry Repression Brigade (BRB).

How the Robbery Took Place

The thieves reportedly accessed the Louvre via the Seine docks, where operation work is ongoing. They used a freight elevator to scope the targeted country successful the Apollo Gallery. Two hooded men entered aft breaking windows with an space grinder, while a third stayed extracurricular arsenic a lookout.

The robbers attacked the archetypal two galleries—the Napoleon Gallery and the French Sovereigns’ Gallery—stealing 9 pieces from Napoleon and the Empress’s jewelry collection, including a necklace, a brooch, and a tiara. The Regent Diamond, the largest portion successful the postulation astatine much than 140 carats, was not stolen. Damage is presently being assessed based connected photos of the missing pieces.

The criminals reportedly fled connected a scooter toward the A6 motorway. One of the stolen jewels, believed to beryllium Empress Eugénie’s crown, was aboriginal recovered extracurricular the museum, though it had been damaged.

Investigators are considering whether some of the jewels whitethorn person already been melted down for resale. A source adjacent to the probe explained, “The hazard is that some of the diamonds could beryllium sold individually, which would marque reconstituting the jewels very difficult.”

A Rare Breach astatine a World-Famous Museum

As the world’s astir visited museum, the Louvre houses some of the astir valuable artworks and taste treasures, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Earlier this year, the depository besides closed temporarily when employees staged a spontaneous strike implicit what they described arsenic “untenable” working conditions, citing overwhelming visitor numbers, insufficient staffing, and deteriorating infrastructure.

This is simply a processing story, and much details will beryllium published arsenic they go available.

Source: tovima.com