Mayor of Paris likens Louvre robbery to a “movie script”
The Mayor of Paris has expressed his complete shock at the recent robbery of the Louvre, which saw nine priceless pieces of jewellery stolen.
On the morning of October 19th, a gang of masked thieves robbed the iconic French museum in a heist that took them only seven minutes. The museum was forced to close on the usually busy Sunday.
The stolen jewellery was from a collection once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte’s family and the Empress Marie Louise. A necklace, a brooch, and a tiara were among the items taken from the Napoleon and French Sovereigns display cases.
Reportedly, the group gained entry to the first-floor window through a mechanised lift attached to a vehicle. They gained access by breaking a window with an angle grinder, hence earlier reports of their wielding “a small chainsaw”. Images of a ladder they climbed that is still propped up against the building have been circulating online.
In their haste, the robbers left one piece of jewellery behind, found very near the Louvre; this is understood to be the crown of Empress Eugenie, though this is not confirmed officially.
In a new statement, the Mayor of Paris Centre, Ariel Weil, likened the incident to the Netflix show Lupin. The show follows the dealings of a fictional thief in Paris. He confessed, “It’s a shock…It’s clear we’re in Arsène Lupin. It’s been a movie script up until now. It’s hard to imagine that it’s seemingly so easy to burglarise the Louvre.”
The most recent attempted robbery at the museum was in 1998. During this incident, a 19th-century painting by artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was stolen. According to reports at the time, the painting was sliced out of its frame unbeknownst to security guards and staff.
The estimated value of the stolen jewellery is currently being tallied.
