The Musée du Louvre is in a state of shock after a spectacular robbery took place on Sunday. At around 9:30 a.m., several individuals forced their way into the Galerie d’Apollon, attacking the display cases and making off with a number of priceless jewels. Most of these veritable treasures of French history date from the 19th century. (Another part of the Crown jewels were stolen during the French Revolution, and in 1887, the government of the Third Republic sold a large part of the royal jewel collection.) The jewels in the Musée du Louvre are all the more important: they are the last testimony to a fabulous story initiated by King François I in 1530, aimed at collecting the most beautiful gems available on behalf of the State,. Louis XIV took this collection even further, and the Crown jewels numbered up to several thousand stones, including the famous blue Hope diamond, and the Grand Mazarin, a pink diamond weighing almost 20 carats. Two diamonds, worn by the Sun King as leotard buttons, adorn the “Reliquary Brooch” stolen this weekend.
Most of the pieces, which were stolen from the Musée du Louvre in stolen in just seven minutes, tell the story of the First and Second Empire. The sapphire necklace of Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, for example, tells the story of the Restoration, while Empress Eugénie’s corsage front evokes the end of French imperial splendor.
This extraordinary piece of jewelry originally formed the centerpiece of a belt adorned with more than 4,000 stones. It was was exhibited, among other finery, at the 1855 World’s Fair, and was worn at least twice by the last Empress of the French. Eugénie’s exceptional tiara, with its delicate diamond foliage bordered by a string of pearls, was among the other jewels targeted.
The Empress’s crown, created in 1855 by Lemonnier and recognizable by its chased gold eagle motifs, was miraculously found, damaged, outside the museum. In a press release issued on Sunday afternoon, the Ministry of Culture said, “Two high-security display cases were targeted, and eight objects of invaluable cultural heritage were stolen.” The Ministry also announced that an investigation into the theft as part of an organized gang and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime had been opened and entrusted to the Brigade de répression du banditisme (the Banditry Repression Brigade, or BRB) under the authority of the Paris public prosecutor’s office.
Here are the jewels stolen from the Louvre on Sunday, October 19.
