Posted on 10/23/2025 10:20:16 AM PDT by xxqqzz
Crown jewels that were stolen in a dramatic weekend heist at the Louvre are worth an estimated 88 million euros, or $102 million, not including their historical value to France, the Paris prosecutor said Tuesday.
About 100 investigators are now involved in the police hunt for the gems and heist suspects, said prosecutor Laure Beccuau, whose office is leading the investigation.
"The wrongdoers who took these gems won't earn 88 million euros if they had the very bad idea of disassembling these jewels," she said in an interview with broadcaster RTL. "We can perhaps hope that they'll think about this and won't destroy these jewels without rhyme or reason."
Questions have arisen about security at the Louvre, the world's most-visited museum, and whether security cameras might have failed as the thieves rode a basket lift up the Louvre's facade, cut their way through a window, smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels on Sunday morning.
But France's culture minister said Tuesday that the security apparatus installed at the Louvre worked properly during the theft.
"The Louvre museum's security apparatus did not fail, that is a fact," the minister, Rachida Dati, told lawmakers in the National Assembly. "The Louvre museum's security apparatus worked."
Dati said she launched an administrative inquiry that comes in addition to a police investigation to ensure full transparency into what happened. She did not offer any details about how the thieves managed to carry out their heist given that the cameras were working. But she described it as a painful blow for the nation.
The robbery was "a wound for all of us," she said. "Why? Because the Louvre is far more than the world's largest museum. It's a showcase for our French culture and our shared patrimony."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Bitcoin ransom would be the most profitable route - offer at 1/3 of value and the whole thing disappears as insurance pays it off.
At least that’s how the art boys handle it.
I hope they bought the replacement-cost insurance.
They were not insured. Also, the French government doesn’t need to buy new crown jewels.
True plus the government at the time beheaded the King and Queen so there is that too.
DEI hires for head of security. Plus, 4 guards were confronted by the two thieves and ran off — the thieves had only power tools and the guards were unarmed.
Yet, the Froggies assure us that the system worked. Think on that the next time you touch anything from Froggie land: food, drink, airplanes, etc.
As to the jewels, you’d have to be some kind of idiot to have not already broken them up and melted the metal. These are old jewels, no ID sketched onto them.
This is a DEI case too
Museum director was woke female who railed about lack of women in museum curatorship. Hired female director of security.
Who is surprised?
“The Louvre museum’s security apparatus did not fail, that is a fact,” the minister, Rachida Dati, told lawmakers in the National Assembly. “The Louvre museum’s security apparatus worked.”
Can you imagine that answer being given by the British Prime Minister during Question Time?
The decibel level would be over the top.
Hard to believe they display the real jewels.
You’d think they’d just use costume jewelry. How many would know the difference?
Pretty hard to make that claim after losing $100M worth of jewels in a robbery. Isn't that what security is supposed to prevent?
I think the robbers might be willing to ransom the jewels, to be paid in crypto.
Normally I favor law and order but I can’t stop laughing about this.
Apparently the female security genius moved the priceless artifacts from a highly secure vault into the equivalent of a jewelry store display case. To which the thieves said “Thank you very much!”
A decent gun safe would have prevented this.
Agreed. They should just put up a photocopy of the Mona Lisa, too...
...and Gericault's Raft of Medusa ...
...and Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People ...
...and David's Oath of The Horatii.
Heck, just leave 'em all locked in the basement and fill the museum with 4k LED monitors showing JPEGs of them.
It certainly would solve the problem of having to fight past all the Japanese tourists to get a look at the Mona Lisa, just intermittently show her JPEG on every monitor in the place.
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