PARIS — At a museum in eastern France, two individuals disguised with wigs shattered a display case using a sledgehammer and a hammer, making off with a 2,500-year-old gold necklace in under four minutes.
In a separate smash-and-grab at another French museum, three masked perpetrators stole 27 pieces of jewelry valued at over 4.5 million euros ($5.2 million), forcing their way through two doors to gain entry.
Those thefts occurred in July. Just this week, intruders cut through a fence and climbed through a window at a museum on the French Riviera, fleeing with two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. They abandoned two other works by the Impressionist master during their escape.
This rash of robberies, following last year’s stunning jewel heist at the Louvre—France’s most famous and visited museum—highlights how the nation is both blessed and burdened by its centuries-old trove of treasure accumulated through conquest, creativity, and artistic patronage.
France’s passion for paintings, sculptures, ancient artifacts, and other valuables is a source of national pride and identity. Thousands of museums housing collections of all sizes help transmit the nation’s love of culture and history across generations. The largest institutions also attract millions of tourists who significantly bolster the French economy.
However, securing all this wealth is costly and difficult. Criminals view museums as soft targets. The brazen theft of 88 million euros ($102 million) in crown jewels from the Louvre’s Apollo gallery served as a grim wake-up call, though it was merely the most shocking example of broader threats facing museums, not just in France.
“When the jewels of a French king vanish, destined to be melted down due to the rising price of gold, it is a tragedy that breaks everyone’s heart,” said Guillaume Poitrinal, president of the Fondation du patrimoine, a foundation funding the renovation and protection of French cultural sites.
“We must make it significantly more difficult to steal works of art and objects that are part of France’s cultural heritage and belong to all its people. That is absolutely essential, and achieving this requires investment,” he stated in an interview with The Associated Press.
Before dawn on Tuesday, two robbers made off with “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well.” They dropped “Portrait of Madame Pichon” and “Coco Reading” as they fled through the garden of the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
They cut through a fence using an electric knife or saw and entered the museum through the ground floor, according to Bryan Masson, mayor of the town situated between Cannes and Nice on the Mediterranean coast.
The heist took under three minutes. Masson estimated the artworks’ value at 9 million euros ($10.5 million). Since offloading well-known stolen art through legitimate channels is impossible, the paintings could ultimately be worth little or nothing to the thieves.
The European police agency Europol reports that museum heists are growing increasingly violent, with perpetrators using sledgehammers, axes, crowbars, and even explosives to break in and smash display cases.
The agency noted in an August report that thieves are increasingly targeting museum items containing gold and other precious metals that can be melted down, as well as gemstones that can be removed and sold. Criminals believe “museum security measures are less robust than those in jewelry stores,” the agency stated.
The ancient necklace stolen on July 24 from the museum in Châtillon-sur-Seine, eastern France, was crafted from nearly half a kilo (a pound) of gold.
A record 10 burglaries targeted French and other European museums this summer, according to Jean-Christophe Castelain, director of Le Journal des Arts, a bimonthly art publication.
“Eight of those ten involved jewelry, coins, or antique objects that can easily be melted down,” he noted.
The Lalique Museum in Wingen-sur-Moder, located further east near France’s border with Germany, has remained closed since the July 5 theft, during which jewelry was stolen from six display cases smashed open with sledgehammers and hammers. This public museum celebrates 19th-century jeweler and glassmaker René Lalique and his successors.
The pain remains raw for its director, Véronique Brumm Schaich, whose voice cracked with emotion during an interview. The museum is seeking 200,000 euros ($233,000) for security upgrades.
“Robbers’ tactics are evolving,” she said. “Recent examples demonstrate that we are not the only ones who need to intensify our efforts.”
Due to government budget constraints, it remains unclear how much funding will come from public coffers, she said. The museum is also collecting private donations, because “these security upgrades are extremely expensive,” she noted.
“These are difficult times,” she said. “A burglary never comes at a good time, but this one arrived at an especially bad moment.”
Some of the funding provided by the Fondation du patrimoine, including for museums, comes from a national lottery. To help boost museum revenues, the foundation is also launching a pass granting subscribers access to 500 museums, monuments, and châteaux.
“France is a country where we love passing the buck,” said Poitrinal, the foundation president. “People claim it is the state’s responsibility or the city’s responsibility. I say it is quite simple: it is everyone’s responsibility.”