The crown jewels that were stolen at the Louvre Museum in Paris at the weekend were valued at around $157 million, but France won’t recover any money as the items were not insured. The theft left one of the world’s best-known museums with a huge loss and no monetary compensation.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau estimated the stolen gems’ value at 88 million euros, which is about $157 million. She noted, however, that this figure does not take into account their historical value to France. About 100 investigators are currently assigned to the case to track down the thieves and retrieve the stolen goods.
The prosecutor cautioned the thieves that destroying the jewels to sell them would be a bad decision. She told the thieves that they would not really earn $157 million if they pulled the gems out of their frames and attempted to sell them individually. She hoped the criminals would reconsider before demolishing these significant historical artifacts.
French Government Won’t Get Insurance Payment
The French Culture Ministry made it public that the robbed jewels were not privately insured. In a statement, the ministry said that the state would not be reimbursed for losing items that possess “inestimable heritage and historical value.”
The ministry explained to Le Parisien newspaper that the state functions as a self-insurer when valuable works are left in their usual places within national museums. They argued the expense of purchasing private insurance is too high when the cost of loss through theft is usually very low.
Private art galleries tend to purchase insurance to guard against loss of their collections. National museums in France do not work the same way. They self-insure, meaning they bear the risk of losing items to fire or theft themselves instead of paying an insurance company to guard against it.
Romain Dechelette, boss of a French insurer, said in an interview with Le Parisien that “they are left with nothing but tears” when such a theft occurs in a national museum. The government and the museum have to just learn to live with the loss without any financial compensation.
Questions About Museum Security
Citizens have been raising serious questions regarding security at the Louvre following thieves who stole the jewels in daylight on Sunday morning. The heist occurred when masked men employed a van with an extendable ladder to ascend the side of the museum building. They broke open a window, shattered the display cases containing the jewels, and made away with the contents.
Culture Minister Rachida Dati defended the museum’s security system when she addressed the National Assembly. She maintained that the Louvre security did not fail and that it even functioned as it should. Dati reported that she had initiated an administrative investigation parallel to the police investigation so that they could be transparent about everything that transpired.
Yet, Dati failed to clarify how the burglars could have executed the heist if all the surveillance cameras were functional as alleged. She mentioned that the robbery was very hard for the whole country since the Louvre symbolizes French culture and collective heritage.
How the Robbery Happened
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez gave some information regarding the chronology of events. He explained that the alarm at the museum sounded when the robbers smashed open the window of the Apollo Gallery, where the crown jewels were on show. Police officers reached the museum merely two or three minutes after being alerted by an eyewitness to the crime being committed.
Even with the rapid response, the burglars had already completed their task. Authorities estimated that the whole robbery lasted less than eight minutes from beginning to end. The criminals spent less than four minutes inside the actual Louvre building itself.
Nuñez indicated that there are cameras everywhere inside the Louvre but declined to provide information on what the video recordings capture as police investigation is ongoing. Alarms had security personnel at the Louvre running to the Apollo Gallery, causing the intruders to flee in haste. But by then, they had already taken what they had come for.
FAQs
- Why weren’t the crown jewels insured?
French national museums are self-insured because private insurance is too expensive when theft is generally very rare.
- How long did the heist last?
The whole heist only took less than eight minutes, and the thieves spent less than four minutes physically inside the museum.
- How did the thieves steal at the Louvre?
They employed a van with an extendable ladder to drive up the museum’s exterior wall and smashed open a window to get in.
- Is France likely to recover any money for the stolen jewels?
No, since the jewels were not insured with private insurance, the French government will not gain any financial compensation.
- To whom did the stolen jewels belong historically?
The stolen jewels belonged to French empresses and queens such as Marie-Amelie, Hortense, Marie-Louise, and Eugenie in the 19th century.
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