Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Just a day after the high-profile jewel heist at Mus&eacute;e du Louvre in Paris, another French cultural institution was robbed. On Monday morning, officials at the Maison des Lumi&egrave;res &ndash; House of Enlightenment in Langres (Haute-Marne) discovered that part of the museum&rsquo;s coins treasure had vanished, Franceinfo reported. The museum staff entering the institution in the morning found the entrance door open and a display case housing gold and silver coins shattered.&nbsp; &ldquo;The sliding entrance door had been forced open, and a display case containing gold and silver coins had been broken,&rdquo; the municipal statement said.&nbsp; According to local officials, the thieves selected only a limited number of items from the collection, leaving the rest untouched, authorities consider this a sign of a targeted and prepared robbery. The stolen pieces came from a trove of nearly 2,000 coins, 1,633 silver and 319 gold, previously valued at around &euro;90,000.&nbsp; The museum said the missing items were part of &ldquo;the &lsquo;museum treasure&rsquo;, a collection of silver and gold coins discovered during renovation.&rdquo; The timing could not be more alarm-raising. The Louvre robbery, which made global headlines with its daylight raid on priceless royal jewels valued at &euro;88 million, triggered national alarms about museum security. The Langres incident arrived like a copy-cat in the making, raising concerns that once-targeted-vulnerable institutions are now under renewed threat. Police are investigating the Langres heist as &ldquo;targeted and planned,&rdquo; with the city already contracting a private security firm to guard the site overnight while the museum upgrades its surveillance.&nbsp; In a public statement the City of Langres vowed to &ldquo;strongly condemn this act of vandalism and theft, which damages the community&rsquo;s heritage.&rdquo; For now, Langres remains closed to visitors until further notice. The coins are gone, the display case lies broken, and French heritage watchers wonder: How many more?

Europe

A day after the Louvre jewel heist, France’s Maison des Lumières museum in Langres was robbed of select gold and silver coins worth €90,000. Authorities call it a targeted theft amid growing concern over museum security

New day, new robbery: another French museum hit after Louvre

PARIS: A theft occurred at the Louvre on Sunday, France&rsquo;s culture minister said, as the museum closed for the day while authorities investigate. &ldquo;A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum,&rdquo; Rachida Dati wrote on X. The Louvre said it would close &ldquo;for exceptional reasons,&rdquo; offering no further details on the heist. No injuries were reported. Dati said she was on site and that an investigation was underway. French daily Le Parisien reported that the criminals entered the world&rsquo;s most visited museum and former palace via the Seine-facing facade, where construction is underway. The report said they used a freight elevator to gain direct access to the targeted room in the Apollo Gallery. After breaking windows, they reportedly stole &ldquo;nine pieces from the jewellery collection of Napoleon and the Empress,&rdquo; Le Parisien said. The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous was in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat. It was recovered two years later in Florence &mdash; an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci&rsquo;s portrait the world&rsquo;s best-known artwork. In 1983, two Renaissance-era pieces of armor were stolen from the Louvre and only recovered nearly four decades later. The museum&rsquo;s collection also bears the legacy of Napoleonic-era looting that continues to spark restitution debates today. The Louvre is home to more than 33,000 works spanning antiquities, sculpture and painting &mdash; from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to European masters. Its star attractions include the Mona Lisa, as well as the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The Galerie d&rsquo;Apollon, where Sunday&rsquo;s theft reportedly took place, displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels. The museum can draw up to 30,000 visitors a day.

France’s culture minister announced that the Louvre Museum in Paris has been closed following a reported robbery. Authorities are investigating the incident, and details about what was stolen or suspects involved have not yet been released.


Articles tagged with "Museum"

New day, new robbery: another French museum hit after Louvre

Louvre closed after robbery, French culture minister reports