Passers-by, meanwhile, walk along the Seine without batting an eyelid.
The thieves slipped in and out in minutes, making off with eight pieces of France’s crown jewels, a loss some compared with the burning of Notre-Dame in 2019.
The museum’s director blamed the Louvre’s ageing security camera system for the failure to detect the thieves as they carried out the heist on Sunday.
Louvre director Laurence des Cars (right) appears at a French Senate hearing on Wednesday.Credit: AP
The lift was attached to a truck stolen in nearby Louvres, about 3 kilometres from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the north-east of Paris.
A rental-service employee had been scheduled to hand over a Mitsubishi Canter Fuso equipped with a 27-metre ladder to a driver. Two men arrived on a motorbike and threatened the driver. One of the men made off with the truck.
The rental-firm boss, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he did not know where the vehicle had gone until he saw it on the news, and he informed the police.
“We have nothing to do with this. It’s bothersome,” he told London’s The Telegraph.
The thieves attempted to set the truck on fire before escaping on scooters but were interrupted.
Cloned plates
The truck was central to the smash-and-grab raid, which took place on Sunday morning.
In the days before the heist, the thieves cloned a number plate from another truck and painted the vehicle grey to cover its logos.
A petrol container left behind during the frantic getaway also suggests that the vehicle wasn’t meant to be left intact. The thieves left other clues, including a scooter helmet, a blowtorch, a walkie-talkie, a yellow vest and a blanket.
The entire operation lasted about seven minutes.
The museum’s director of public reception and surveillance said in an audio recording obtained by BFMTV that security guards had thwarted the thieves’ attempt to set the truck on fire.
“A number of security guards exited and made them flee,” she said during a staff meeting. “By making them flee, they prevented them from setting fire to the device.”
It emerged on Wednesday that the stolen jewels had been kept in a modern glass case that offered less protection than its predecessor.
In 2019 the historic protective casing was replaced with a modern unit made of reinforced glass.
Interpol has issued images of the stolen jewellery. Credit: AP
Laurence des Cars, the Louvre’s director, reportedly offered to resign after the theft but President Emmanuel Macron refused the offer.
Security warnings
Speaking at a French senate hearing on Wednesday, des Cars conceded that video surveillance of the Louvre’s surroundings “is our weakness” and said the museum had been “defeated”.
She revealed that the balcony of the Apollo Gallery, where the thieves entered, was not covered by exterior security cameras, and that the few perimeter cameras were also ageing.
She called for a police station to be set up inside the iconic museum, telling French politicians: “There are a few perimeter cameras but they are outdated … The installed base is very inadequate.”
Des Cars said she had repeatedly warned that the centuries-old building’s security was in a dire state.
“The warnings I had been sounding came horribly true last Sunday.”
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The heist, which took place after the Louvre had already opened to visitors, has prompted a review of security at museums across the country.
Paris is home to some of the world’s best-known cultural institutions, including museums like the Musee d’Orsay, the Pompidou Centre, and the Musee du quai Branly, which help sustain tourism.
The Louvre remained closed on Monday and Tuesday, only reopening to the public three days after the jewellery went missing.
At least four French museums have been robbed over the past two months, including the Natural History Museum in Paris.
In total, thieves stole about €88 million ($157 million) worth of jewels on Sunday, including a necklace Napoleon Bonaparte gave to Marie-Louise of Austria; the tiara, necklace and earrings of Queen Hortense; and a diadem, diamond bow brooch and reliquary brooch that once belonged to Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.
The Telegraph, London
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