$4.5M in Jewelry Stolen in French Museum Heist
By Theo Belci
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It’s becoming a familiar tune: A jewel heist took place at a French museum. In the early hours of the morning on Sunday July 5, the Musée Lalique in France was robbed of around 20 pieces of jewelry, worth about €4 million (approximately $4.5 million).
The French newspaper Le Monde reports that around 5:30 am, a “gang of masked thieves” forced their entrance into the museum before smashing six display cases of jewelry. The Art Nouveau and Art Deco items taken are said to be made of crystal, gold, and semi-precious stones, and cannot be melted down. The robbers remain at large.
The museum said that the robbery was accomplished in “a very short space of time,” triggering the museum’s security systems. An investigator said that the only person to trigger an alarm was the museum’s cleaning lady, who first arrived on the scene and called the authorities. CCTV footage is currently being analyzed.
The Musée Lalique, located in the French commune Wingen-sur-Moder, less than 40 miles from Strasbourg, focuses on the works of French glassware designer René Lalique and his successors. The museum, opened in 2011, holds over 650 pieces of Art Nouveau jewelry, Art Deco glassware and contemporary crystal.
The break-in comes just months after a major heist at the Louvre in Paris, when $102 million worth of 19th-century jewelry was taken. Mere days later, another art heist took place in France, this time at the Maison des Luminières Denis Diderot in Langres.
According to a statement on its website, the Musée Lalique will remain closed for “several days” while recovering from the burglary.
This article was originally published by Artforum.