Second French museum victim of robbery hours after Louvre heist
In the wake of the Louvre robbery, French thieves have struck again, this time at the House of Enlightenment, Denis Diderot, in Landres.
As per ARTNews, nearly 2,000 gold and silver coins were taken during a nighttime break-in that took place on the night of October 19th, just hours after the daylight robbery of the Louvre, the biggest museum in the world. The estimated value of this burglary is around €90,000.
Authorities have shared that the thieves at the Diderot museum “selected their loot with great expertise and precision.” It is currently unclear what security measures the mansion, which dates back to the 16th and 18th centuries, has in place.
At first, investigators were looking to draw parallels between a recent theft at the National History Museum in Paris. A Chinese woman has since been arrested and charged over the theft of $1 million worth of gold from the burglary that took place on September 16th.
On October 19th, a group of masked thieves gained easy access to the Louvre via a furniture lift and proceeded to steal €88 million worth of jewellery. In the daylight robbery, the thieves raided the collection once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte’s family and the Empress Marie Louise. These items included a necklace, a brooch, and a tiara.
Since the huge robbery, which took only seven minutes to execute, shook news outlets across the world, a culture ministry spokesperson has shared with the French newspaper that the stolen jewels were not insured.
Gérald Darmanin, the justice minister of France, has also weighed in on the recent robbery of the Louvre, raising awareness towards the wider ramifications for the country. He shared, “People were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image.”
He also said of the current mood in the country, “The French feel like they have been robbed.” The second high-profile robbery on the same day only adds to this mood. Both sets of thieves are still at large.
