On 19 October, local time, four hidden men plunged into the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, and stole eight Napoleonic jewelry, taking only a few minutes, and the four perpetrators are still escaping. On 20 October, the Louvre continues to shut down.

The most astonishing case.

The method is ¡°simple¡±.

Many people's imaginary Louvre theft may look like this:

High IQ criminal gangs should cooperate inside and outside

Not only are various high-tech equipment blocking monitoring in the museum

And thieves are all three heads and six arms

A "master in the industry" who is proficient in disguising and dressing

¡÷ The movie "Amazing Demon Thieves 2"

disguised as a construction worker.

Entering through blind spots

However, the reality is "simple"

Around 9:30 local time on the 19th

Four suspects drive outside the Louvre

The exterior wall on the side of the Seine.

This area is restricted due to the protection of historical buildings

Failure to fully install monitoring equipment

in a surveillance corner.

The suspect is there

Installed an elevator.

Easily sneak into the interior from the exterior balcony of the building

The presence of the construction area provides their elevators

Provides a good cover.

¡÷ Window broken by suspect

Two of the suspects dressed in yellow jackets disguised as construction workers

Entrance to the Louvre.

theyMeticulous division of labor and clear goals

Everyone runs to a display window.

Very efficient, no stop for a moment.

Two people smashed windows with a corner mill and stole artifacts.

He also threatened museum staff with an angle grinder

The commitment process is rapid

Escape quickly after success

The alarm was triggered at 9:37

At that time, there were 5 staff members in the museum and adjacent areas

They immediately acted according to the safety plan

Contact law enforcement as soon as possible

Prioritize ensuring on-site personnel safety

But before law enforcement officers arrive

The suspect fled through the window through the elevator

Two colleagues meet outside.

At 0938 hours, he escaped on a motorcycle

Starting with the suspect.

The whole process lasts about 7 minutes

After the suspect entered the room,

The theft took less than 4 minutes to complete

They stole eight valuables.

One piece was left at the scene

While escaping, a thief attempted to set fire.

Vehicles used

But he was stopped in time by a Louvre staff member and escaped

The police found it at the scene

Two cutting machines, a blowtorch, some petrol, gloves

A walkie-talkie and a blanket

According to the information released by the French Ministry of Culture

A total of 9 cultural relics of "immeasurable value" were looted

Eight of the suspects were taken away.

One remains on site.

The eight stolen pieces include:

Crown in Queen Marie-Amélie's Headdress Kit with Queen Aldons

Necklace in the sapphire suit of Queen Marie-Amérie and Queen Ordance

Queen Mary-Amelie and Queen Aldon's blue gem in the set

Queen Mary-Louise's Grandmother's Green Suit

Earrings from Queen Marie-Louise's emerald suit

¡°The Holy Box¡±

Crown of Queen Owen.

Queen Owen's big necklace.

The Crown of the Queen of Owen (Map)

The suspect was missing while escaping.

Crown of Queen Owen.

This crown is set with thousands of diamonds and gemstones

Currently the crown is being evaluated.

Theft of jewelry.

Auction house people say Louvre thieves have a hard time selling stolen goods

Alexander Gickello, chairman of one of France¡¯s largest auction companies, said criminals should be aware of the seriousness of their crimes and proactively return the jewelry because it is a crime.The jewelry¡¯s reputation was so great that it was almost impossible to destroy even if they tried to dismantle the jewelry and sell it separately.¡£

The prosecution opened an investigation

The Presidential Palace follows up in real time

The Paris Prosecutor¡¯s Office announced that the case had been investigated on charges of ¡°organized gang theft¡± and ¡°association for committing a crime.¡± The case was investigated by the Paris Judicial Police Department¡¯s rescue team and assisted by the Central Anti-Counterfeiting Office.

The Louvre Museum security hole

Shocked the world

The museum had been open for half an hour at the time of the incident

The robbery could be said to have been carried out during the "Lightning Day".

After the robbery

French Justice Minister Damanning

Security risks at the Louvre

Hidden danger 1:

There are many complex safety risks in the Louvre building

As a royal palace built in the 12th century, the Louvre's architectural structure naturally presents defensive shortages, and the balconies, ventilation wells, footplates, etc. on the outside of the building provide facilities for external invasions.

It has also been questioned that the suspect¡¯s lifting device was shipped into the museum area without a security inspection, which also exposed another security vulnerability.

Danger of 2:

Large passenger flow, security personnel and measures are stretched

The Louvre has a long history of security risks. According to the French Court of Audit, although only a quarter of the museum's wing is equipped with video surveillance, security upgrades have been repeatedly delayed. A security official at the Louvre pointed out that spending cuts on cultural heritage protection positions by the Louvre and the French Ministry of Culture were one of the important reasons for the incident.

Louvre security officer Elise:The Louvre has lost 190 security and surveillance positions in the past decade, and the French Ministry of Culture has a department dedicated to safety, security and protection of cultural sites. In the past decade, the department has been cut by 25% of its jobs. When you cancel your professional position, you will have to pay the price sooner or later. The robbery that occurred this time is more exaggerated and serious than the plot of the movie.

France has suffered three museum thefts in the past two months

The Louvre robbery has aroused widespread concern in French society about the safety of museums. In fact, this is the third theft in a French museum in the past two months.

On September 17, the National Museum of Natural History in Paris was stolen, and a sample of natural gold, worth about $ 700,000, was stolen.

On September 4, a museum in Limoges, southwestern France, theft and lost three Chinese pieces of porcelain.

Not only in France, museums across Europe have been frequently targeted by thieves in recent years.

A major European museum theft in recent years.

Just days before the Louvre robbery, a painting by the late Spanish painter Pablo Picasso disappeared while travelling from the country's capital Madrid to the southern city of Granada.

In recent years, there have been many major thefts in museums in Europe.

In 2008, a group of thieves broke into the "Biller Foundation" museum in Zurich, Switzerland, and stole four oil paintings worth $160 million. These four paintings are by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas and Monet respectively. The works of Van Gogh and Monet were quickly recovered, while Cezanne's paintings were only found in 2012.

In 2010, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, France was stolen, and five famous paintings with a total value of 120 million euros were stolen. These include Picasso's Dove and Pea, Matisse's Pastoral Song, and modigliani's Woman with a Fan. In 2017, three thieves were arrested, but claimed to have destroyed all five masterpieces.

In 2012, thieves stole seven paintings of artists such as Picasso, Mattis, Monet and others from the Conso Center for Modern Art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, worth tens of millions of euros.In 2013, a Romanian man and several associates were convicted of the theft, but seven stolen paintings disappeared.

The Head of Woman, Picasso

In the same year, three pieces of art were stolen from the Greek National Gallery, including Picasso¡¯s 1939 ¡°Women¡¯s Head¡± and Dutch painter Mondrian¡¯s ¡°The Mill.¡± In 2021, Greek police announced that the two pieces had been found for nine years.

In 2019, the Green Dome Treasure Hall in Dresden, eastern Germany, was stolen, and thieves stole jewelry with more than 4,300 diamonds, valued at more than €1,100 million.

In 2020, Van Gogh¡¯s ¡°Spring Garden¡± was stolen during an exhibition borrowed to the Dutch singer Laren Museum, and in 2023, Dutch police announced that the painting would be recovered.

Expert: Case reveals the reality of social unrest in Europe

Expert analysis believes that behind these robberies, it reflects that European society has entered a period of relative turmoil.

Beijing Foreign Language University Regional and Global Governance Higher Research Institute Professor.I think behind these incidents, on the one hand, they expose Europe's problems in the management and protection of cultural relics, and also reflect that European society has entered a period of relative turmoil.

Most of Europe's civil security units, museums and other institutions are relatively loose in management, and are mostly managed by society as a subject.

The current period, including France and some other European countries, both politically and socio-economically, has entered a relatively turbulent period, a period in which all kinds of emergencies layer up, we should say, the instability of the whole society, affecting the stability of the people, and also deteriorating the social security environment.