France.– In a daring robbery that has shocked the art and culture world, a group of criminals stole this Sunday nine of the 23 pieces from the collection of imperial jewels of Napoleon and Empress Eugenia, exhibited in the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre Museum, one of the most emblematic spaces of the Parisian enclosure.
According to French authorities, the assault took place in just seven minutes, and was carried out by a group of at least three people who entered the museum after breaking the glass windows with an angle grinder, a high-powered cutting tool. Two of the attackers broke into the interior while a third waited outside, facilitating the escape on a motorcycle towards the A6 highway, one of the country’s main roads. Among the stolen objects are a necklace, earrings, a diamond brooch and two crowns, including that of Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, considered one of the most valuable pieces in the collection.
The crown, composed of 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, was found hours later broken outside the museum, suggesting that the thieves may have dropped it during their escape.
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According to a Louvre guide, the display case where the crown was located was situated near a window, next to a tiara with pearls, diamond brooches, and a pendant. The criminals first broke into that display case and then another adjacent one, in which necklaces, tiaras, and earrings with precious stones such as emeralds, diamonds, and sapphires were exhibited. Interestingly, a third display case, located further from the window, was not broken into. In it remain intact some of the Louvre’s most emblematic treasures: the crown of Louis XV, the 20-carat pink diamond “Hortensia” and the “Regent” diamond, a legendary jewel of 140 carats. The authorities also confirmed that one of the stolen objects has been recovered, although it has not been specified which one. The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, described the theft as “unprecedented in France” and assured that the stolen pieces have a “real and invaluable historical value.”
For his part, the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, declared that these are “invaluable treasures” and warned that there is concern that the jewels will be melted down to resell the gold and precious stones, as has happened in recent cases in European museums.
