A second French museum was the topic of a robbery, mere hours after the brazen US$100-million daylight heist on the Louvre on Sunday.
On Monday, municipal officials discovered that a part of a display on the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot (Denis Diderot House of Enlightenment), situated in Langres, France, had disappeared, based on local media outlets.
Thieves broke into the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot late Sunday night after breaking down the primary gate of the Hôtel du Breuil-de-Saint-Germain, which houses the museum, the Washington Post reports.
In a Facebook post, the museum said it “will probably be closed to the general public until further notice, starting this Monday, October twentieth.”
“The explanation? It seems the museum was the victim of trespassing and an investigation is underway. We’ll keep you updated on the reopening of the positioning as soon as we all know more,” the post added.
The museum, which is closed every Monday, didn’t have any visitors present when its security noticed that a sliding door had been forced open and a display case containing gold and silver coins had been broken into, Pierrick White, a senior local official, told BFMTV on Wednesday.
White said “not all the gold and silver coins” within the museum were stolen.
“The gendarmerie, accompanied by our museum teams, are currently looking into things very closely,” White said. “The people of Langres as a complete were robbed by very malicious people. It’s a bit just like the town’s family jewels that were stolen.”
The coins stolen — roughly 2,000 of them — were value around €90,000 (C$147,000), the BBC reports.
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“Law enforcement officers were immediately alerted and went to the scene,” according to a press release.
“Accompanied by the positioning manager, they carried out a whole inspection of the premises. Based on initial observations, a part of the ‘museum treasure,’ a set of silver and gold coins discovered during renovation work on the Hôtel du Breuil, which now houses the museum, has disappeared.
“The display case that protected it was found broken on the bottom. The Museum’s teams are currently making a precise inventory of the items that they may hand over to law enforcement.”
No other works within the museum were affected through the robbery, which authorities imagine was “a planned and targeted theft,” based on French newspaper Le Parisien.
No arrests have been made and the Hôtel du Breuil-de-Saint-Germain stays closed for an investigation. There appears to be no connection to the Louvre heist.
The news of this other robbery comes after the Louvre’s director acknowledged a “terrible failure” on the Paris tourist attraction following the daylight crown jewel heist over the weekend.
The world’s most-visited museum reopened Wednesday to long lines beneath its landmark glass pyramid for the primary time since one in all the highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with its audacity and scale.
In testimony to the French Senate, Louvre director Laurence des Cars said the museum had a shortage of security cameras outside the monument and other “weaknesses” exposed by Sunday’s theft.
Under heavy pressure over a heist that stained France’s global image, she testified to a Senate committee that she submitted her resignation, however the culture minister refused to simply accept it.
“Today we’re experiencing a terrible failure on the Louvre, which I take my share of responsibility in,” she said.
Footage obtained by French outlet BFMTV appears to point out two men escaping on a powered, extendable ladder because the basket slowly lowers to the bottom outside the museum.
The lads, one in a neon vest and the opposite wearing a motorbike helmet, don’t appear to be in any rush as they make their escape from the Louvre to the bottom on the stolen truck outside the museum, following the heist that lasted lower than eight minutes.
Once they reach the bottom, they’re not in view of the camera, but police said they escaped on motorbikes.
The footage is shot from contained in the Louvre on Sunday, overlooking the Seine, based on the Telegraph. The unique source of the video has not been confirmed.
The French prosecutor’s office said they’re aware of the video, but declined to comment, citing the integrity of the continued investigation. The investigation is ongoing.
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— With files from The Associated Press
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