Louvre Robbery Puts Spotlight on Protection Issues

Entering the planet's most popular art institution in broad daylight, taking eight pieces of priceless historical gems and vanishing into Paris traffic on simple scooters may seem like the boldest of crimes, carried out for global fame and subsequent Hollywood film treatments.

Experts who observe trends in global cultural theft, however, see the recent robbery at the Louvre as something more prosaic: the most recent in a series of smash-and-grab thefts centered more on the material value of valuable gems or materials than the artifacts’ significance, continuing a pattern that has appeared over the last ten years in Germany, Britain and the US. The location, they propose, would have been of secondary concern to the thieves.

“One might wonder why thieves who want to steal valuable jewellery are entering a globally renowned museum rather than a luxury jewelry store,” said an expert in art recovery. “It's straightforward: it’s because these days a high-end boutique is more secure.”

A series of aggressive retail store thefts indicate that many stores have strengthened their protection in recent years, with security personnel on their locations and wares no longer kept on display overnight. Museums, on the other hand, look vulnerable, in part because of the in-built factor of being public-facing institutions in historic buildings, and also the financial situation in many developed nations.

“After the pandemic, governments across the globe have cut back on law enforcement and the arts funding,” noted Marinello. “If thieves can get into the Louvre, it demonstrates how at risk our museums have become. This is a difficult time to be a museum.”

The theft of the items – including jewelry pieces made up of precious stones and 631 diamonds, the tiara of a historical figure featuring thousands of diamonds and a extremely expensive diadem once owned by a royal that the thieves dropped by the roadside on their way out – has inevitably drawn comparisons with the historical theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, carried out by the worker the thief.

More relevant points of reference may be the recent theft of valuables from Dresden’s Green Vault Museum worth over €113m, the taking of a multi-million pound gold toilet from a UK landmark the that year, the 2017 robbery of a valuable item from a European museum or even a spate of robberies of collector items from US mining museums.

“It's a clear trend here,” said Marinello. “Smash, grab, and melt it down as rapidly as possible.”

If the items were to remain intact, experts say, the criminals would find it hard to find a buyer. “It's impossible to sell something as immediately identifiable as the Louvre’s jewels on the licit market”, said an art crime researcher of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art.

“They are too well-known, especially given the Ministry of Culture has published photos of the items. Even a private collector or an sales venue would want to see documentation establishing legal possession before touching such striking pieces.”

In the past, institutions were often hesitant to go public about the loss of famous works of art and would stay silent out of shame. Now, as art thefts are more reported on, the storage and selling of stolen art is dangerous for any lawbreaker.

“Taking a famous painting, it has to stay complete or it becomes worthless, and you have to conceive of a plan to conceal it, maybe by passing it around difficult criminal actors,” said Marinello. “There's ongoing risk to the danger of an partner telling the police to collect a ransom.”

For comparable factors, an art detective said it was highly improbable that the theft had been ordered. “Commissioned theft is something from Hollywood movies,” he said. “No one would handle these items. It's global news and in all the newspapers. If you buy this, if you get caught, you go to jail. You cannot show it to your friends, you cannot leave it to your family.”

Modifying taken items by melting down or re-cutting does reduce the value. When it comes to diamonds, it also comes with significant danger because contemporary cutting techniques give gems a larger and brighter appearance, and antique-cut stones would either draw unwanted attention or reduce value for a concealment.

Crucially, however, melting down or reshaping eliminates the evidence of the theft. “I suspect that the robbers will try to take the stolen goods to locations with diamond expertise like Israel, another nation or even as nearby as a city, and find someone to remove the gems,” suggested Marinello.

The robbery at the Louvre has already brought up concerns about security measures at the museum, with a leaked official review expected to be released soon criticising “considerable” and “persistent” slow progress in updating equipment and observing that security cameras were lacking in many rooms. But security experts say showing valuable objects in historic buildings with a constant flow of guests comes with dangers that are impossible to remove entirely.

“Older structures are more difficult to secure,” said an art crime professor. “They often have large accessible windows that makes it easy for criminals to escape, and there may be building protection statutes in place that mean you are unable to install them with secure windows.”

The most solid security systems for structures should be conceptualised “as a stronghold”, noted a security advisor. “It should include several layers to deter intruders.”

Contemporary structures are equipped with state-of-the-art external CCTV cameras or in-built seismic detectors that raise alarm about a broken glass in immediately, but old museums may be reluctant to uglify their appearance. Laser scanners can be difficult to fit to stuccoed ceilings. Motion and sound detectors may also have to be turned off during the day as hordes of visitors stomp through a museum.

The schedule of the Louvre raid, which occurred between 9.30am and 9.40am local time, was common of recent thefts, Stürmann said. “There’s a good reason why robberies tend to happen at either opening or closing times. It’s often when security rotate and prior to the museum is full of visitors who effectively act as extra protection.”

Advances in technology may have thrown up new gadgets that can notify more rapidly and effectively, but it has also given robbers new methods with which to circumvent security measures. In the city, the thieves reached the museum’s first-floor window with a mobile equipment and breached a window with a electric tool.

Elaine Sciolino said the discussion in the country about the 232-year-old structure had primarily centered on visitor management in recent years, and not as much on protection.

The institution has an on-site team of about fifty permanent firefighters, but their mission is mostly to protect the collection from fires and flooding. “There is no quick reaction team,” Sciolino said. “Ultimately, the safety of the Louvre all depends on government support and funding, and at present the nation lacks sufficient money.”