On the morning of October 19th, with only 30 minutes left before the Louvre in Paris was opened to tourists, a group of thieves became one of the worst thefts in the history of this art temple with a "professional task" lasting for 4 minutes.
They precisely locked up the Apollo gallery, which housed the treasures of the Napoleonic era, smashed the showcase, stole eight priceless jewelry, and quickly left on a motorcycle.
Lightning crime: the security line torn apart by the lifting platform
The planned theft was accurate.
According to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez disclosed, the thieves transported a self-prepared lifting platform to the museum side of the river, using the device directly into the hall of the collection of 23 royal treasures, aiming directly to store the "Crown Diamond" Apollo gallery, which contains the world famous diamond collections of the regiment, Sansi and others.
French Minister of Culture Razida Dati bluntly said that the whole process was "extremely rapid and destructive".
The scene surveillance and witnesses restored the chaotic moment: when the thieves crashed into two high-security exhibition cabinets, the warning system was started, but the five servicemen were only able to contact the police and protect the scene, failing to prevent the thieves from fleeing.
Evacuation announcements immediately sounded in the museum's glass pyramid and surrounding courtyards. Confused early tourists were urgently guided out of the scene. The police quickly blocked the streets along the Seine River and launched a pursuit, but failed to capture the suspect.
What is even more shocking is that the thieves brought a large lifting platform with them. Without any inspection., directly exposed a fatal loophole in the Louvre perimeter security.
The Stolen Treasure: The Broken Crown of the Napoleonic Era
The eight jewelry stolen from the 19th century French royal collection is of historical and artistic value.
One of the most notable is the crown of Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III. This A treasure set with more than 1,300 diamonds and emeraldsIt was severely damaged when it was discovered outside the museum.
The rest of the stolen items, including collars, earrings and chestnails, are exhibited in the exhibition area only 250 meters from Mona Lisa, close to the world-class jewels such as the Da Vinci statue and the statue of Milovene.
This is not the first time the Louvre has suffered a major security crisis.In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen by the employee Vincenzo Perugia and found back in Florence two years later; in 1956, a visitor visited the painting. threw stones, causing the paint to peel off on his left elbow, forcing the museum to install protective glass.
Today, the cultural landmark, which receives 30,000 visitors a day, has become one of Europe's most daring cultural thefts due to theft and the 2019 Dresden Green Treasure heist.
Political Storm: Security Upgrade and Public Opinion Torture
The theft quickly evolved from a cultural event to a political storm.
Far-right leader Jordan Badra has publicly criticized President Macron on social media platforms, calling the “robbing of the Louvre as a global cultural symbol a tremendous insult to France” and asking “to what extent the country is corrupt.”
This criticism exposed the public opinion pressure faced by the Macron government and triggered a fierce debate on public security governance.
France's public prosecutor's office has filed the case on charges of "organized gang theft" and the case has been investigated by the police department's heavy case team.
The minister stressed that the Louvre is deploying new security systems, including a new generation of surveillance systems, frontier detection equipment and the Central Security Command Center, according to the “New Renaissance Plan” announced by the president at the beginning of the year, but these upgrades clearly failed to catch the pace of the theft.
To date, the stolen jewelry remains unknown. Such well-known artifacts are difficult to circulate in the public market, and are likely to flow to the underground black market, for sale in private collections.。