4 minutes to visit the Louvre

Dear reader, I would like to start by informing you that the expected reading time for this opinion article is 4 minutes. Exactly the time that, according to the French Minister of Culture, was needed to complete the most recent theft of jewels from the Louvre Museum, in Paris.

And truth! Everything is quick and simple: a supposed maintenance team enters the building, unarmed and wearing high visibility vests; obsolete intrusion detectors and the security team on their morning break.

Final escape on “high-powered scooters”. Everything so shameless It was even possible – due to the lack of video surveillance – for one of the museum visitors to film the robbery.

This opinion article of mine would therefore obviously have to be about this subject. So much safeguarding work in preventive conservation, so much care on the part of museum technicians and then…. we ruin everything in 4 minutes?

Targeted him nine Napoleonic jewels, dating from the first half of the 19th century, which were displayed in the Apolo Gallery. It is said to be of incalculable value. In such an incalculable way, that It is not even possible for them to take out insurance.

However, the value of one of the jewels – the one lost to thieves – has already been disclosed: the crown of Empress Eugéniain gold and encrusted with 1354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, is valued at 50 million euros. To roughly calculate the monetary value of this loot, we can mention that, among the 9 pieces, there will be thousands of pearls, diamonds and emeralds.

According to experts, 48 ​​hours after the theft, the probability of recovering the jewelry is quite tiny. Possibly the gold will already be melted. The parts will have been dismantled, sold or withdrawn from the country. In fact, it doesn’t seem to me that the pieces, as they are, can be sold.

The French Minister of the Interior states that the perpetrators of the crime are “experienced” I don’t know if I understand this statement well. What were the last museum robberies by this gang?

Certainly, none of the robbers were involved in the 1998 Louvre robbery and much less in the theft of the Mona Lisawhich occurred in 1911….

In my opinion, the main motivator for this robbery, was the challenge. The adrenaline. The stimulus of being able to do something unimaginable. The stimulus of being able to turn into reality what until now was only in imagery and cinematography.

By the way, of course, the Netflix series “”. And isn’t it that in this 2021 series it is mentioned that the theft of Queen Maria Antonietta’s necklaceexhibited in the Louvre, should takes place in 7 minutes?

Exactly the same time that – in contradiction with the Minister of Culture – the Minister of the Interior claims to have taken. It almost seems that such “experienced” equipment, it was the same team led by Assane Diop.

According to the French Minister of Culture, “the security devices of the museum they didn’t fail“. I understand the statement. In my opinion, it will be quite difficult to stop an assault attack. What could the security guards do in a situation like this? Nothing, other than triggering the alarms.

But is it only in these great museums that we watch these soap operas? No. In Portugal it is the same. In 2002, for example, Portuguese jewelry loaned to the Hague museum was stolen and has not yet been recovered.

The less attentive reader will also be unaware that just a few days agowere carried out 2 thefts of high-value works of art in Portugal. A panel of tiles from the Ermida de Santo Antão, in Óbidos, and numerous sculptures and tiles from the Church of Santo António, in Constância.

If we analyze it well, whether in the Louvre or in a small chapel in the interior of Portugal, the “modus operandi” is always the same: Security flaws are studied and these flaws are taken advantage of. Only the media coverage is different.

I conclude by mentioning that the judicial police have a list of thousands of stolen Portuguese works of artbelonging to private and public collections. An essential tool to publicize and try to maintain hope in the recovery of some of these pieces.

However, we are left continue following the remaining episodes of this true crime mystery series!