{"id":136529,"date":"2025-10-21T17:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/136529\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T17:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:58:09","slug":"french-culture-minister-says-louvre-security-worked-during-jewel-heist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/136529\/","title":{"rendered":"French culture minister says Louvre security worked during jewel heist"},"content":{"rendered":"

France\u2019s culture minister has said that the security apparatus installed at the Louvre worked properly during a dramatic weekend heist in which historic jewels were stolen from the world\u2019s most visited museum.<\/p>\n

Questions have arisen about security at the Louvre \u2013 and whether security cameras might have failed \u2013 after thieves rode a basket lift up the museum\u2019s facade, forced open a window, smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Louvre museum\u2019s security apparatus did not fail, that is a fact,\u201d the minister, Rachida Dati, told politicians in the National Assembly. \u201cThe Louvre museum\u2019s security apparatus worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Dati said she launched an administrative inquiry that comes in addition to a police investigation to ensure full transparency into what happened.<\/p>\n

\n A wound for all of us<\/p>\n

Rachida Dati, culture minister\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The robbery was \u201ca wound for all of us,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy? Because the Louvre is far more than the world\u2019s largest museum. It\u2019s a showcase for our French culture and our shared patrimony.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interior minister Laurent Nunez said on Monday that the museum\u2019s alarm was triggered when the window of the Apollo Gallery was forced.<\/p>\n

Police officers arrived on site two or three minutes after they were called by an individual that witnessed the scene, he said on LCI television.<\/p>\n

\"AA police van patrols in the courtyard of the closed Louvre museum (Thibault Camus\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

Officials said the heist lasted less than eight minutes in total, including less than four minutes inside the Louvre.<\/p>\n

Mr Nunez did not disclose details about video surveillance cameras that may have filmed the thieves around and in the museum pending a police investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are cameras all around the Louvre,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s theft focused on the Apollo Gallery, where the Crown Diamonds are displayed. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, but the theft was already over.<\/p>\n

Eight objects were taken, according to officials: a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s second wife; a reliquary brooch; and Empress Eugenie\u2019s diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch, a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France\u2019s culture minister has said that the security apparatus installed at the Louvre worked properly during a dramatic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,366,18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-136529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}