a yellow vest, chainsaws, a crane and confusion over the construction sites

This Sunday morning marked a before and after in the History of Art. At 9:45 in the morning, A group of hooded men approached one of the facades of the Louvre museum in Paris on a motorcycle.loaded with chainsaws and other equipment, with the intention of carrying out the robbery of the century in France.

To access the scene of the incident, the thieves would have used chainsaws that allowed them access to the building. To reach the veins, they used a lifting platform that remained there hours later, allowing them to climb to the first floor of the building, where their objective was located.

The crane, gray in color and brand Mitsubishi, was a key element in the operation, because, although it may seem impossible, it went completely unnoticed in the environment. The reason? The works that are being carried out on that side of the façade.

The chaos generated by this exceptional situation He became the greatest ally of thieveswho were able to move a huge machine without raising suspicions.

In just four minutes, they managed to take nine pieces from the Apolo Gallery with “incalculable value”, as the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, has assured. Among them, according to local media, are two tiaras, one belonging to the queens María Amelia and Hortensia and another of the empress Eugenia.

In addition, the reliquary brooch and another belonging to the same empress. The loot is rounded off by a necklace and a pair of emerald earrings. In total, it is estimated that The pieces are made up of 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds embedded.

The gallery It had been renewed in 2020, as part of a complete renovation that was carried out throughout the building. The jewels that are part of the collection of Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie are displayed there.

yellow vest

And yellow vest has once again been the protagonist of the day in France, but this time not because of a demonstration or a protest, but because the thieves lost one during their escape from the scene of the robbery.

This makes it clear that at least one of the thieves posed as a museum worker to go unnoticed. According to advance The Parisianthe two men inside the crane cabin were the supposed construction technicians.

Found parts

While fleeing, the thieves dropped some other things: gasoline, a blowtorch, a walkie-talkie, a blanket and even a glove, but one of them was much more surprising.

The crown of empress eugenie It was found by the police near the Louvre with a few damages caused by the impact of the fall.

A tour guide showed Le Parisien the exact location where this piece was located, now guarded by the investigation. Rested in a display case very close to the windowwhich also housed a tiara, pearls, diamond brooches and a pendant.

The most surprising thing of all is that the Regent Diamond, the most valuable of all those in the museum, was still in its place when the authorities arrived. This gem is one of the most difficult to sell due to its unique characteristics.

Instead, the rest of the parts are easily removablethat is, the jewelry that dresses them can be extracted to be sold separately individually.

Museum protocol

Furthermore, according to this same tour guide The Parisian, When he arrived at the museum with a group of people, “When I entered, the door closed”. At that moment, he had to return to his office where he found out everything that had happened.

At the time of the raid, the alarmslocated in the exterior window of the Apolo Gallery, as well as in the two high-security display cases, “were activated” at the time of the raid, according to the press release from the Ministry of Culture.

“Los five museum agentspresent in the room and in the adjacent spaces, intervened immediately”, but only to notify the police and help with the evacuation of the visitors who were there.

Chaos in Paris

At the time the facts became known, chaos reigned in all the rooms of the museum. Thousands of tourists had to be evacuated in the middle of their visits to guarantee the proper performance of investigation and security tasks.

Currently, the entire museum is perimeter and access has been completely restricted during Sunday. Still date could not be specified in which the doors will reopen, but it has been confirmed that it will be “in the coming days”.

The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, assured on French television that 60 researchers traveled of the security forces to perimeter the area and find those responsible.

He Traffic was closed all morning on the François-Mitterand quay in the area next to the Seine and closest to the museum. It remained like this until at 4:00 p.m. the agents allowed traffic to resume.