PARIS (AP) — Robbery at the Louvre We accomplished something that no previous marketing campaign could do. It catapulted France’s dusty Crown Jewels, long admired at home but little known abroad, to global fame.
A week later, the country is still scarred by violations of its national heritage.
still crime is also a paradox. Some say it will make the very jewel it sought to erase a celebrity, just as the theft of the Mona Lisa in the early 20th century turned a then-little-known Renaissance portrait into the world’s most famous work of art.
In 1911, the museum’s handyman hoisted Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece. The loss went unnoticed for more than a day. Newspapers made it a worldwide mystery, and crowds gathered to stare into the empty space. When the painting resurfaced two years later, its fame eclipsed everything else in the museum, and it still does.
it is anxious questions A closer look at Sunday’s robbery: Will a crime that cuts deep beautify what’s left behind?
“Thanks to this drama, scandal and heist, the Apollo Museum itself and its remaining jewels are likely to find themselves in a new spotlight and become famous, much like the Mona Lisa after 1911,” says Anya Firestone, a Parisian art historian and heritage expert accredited by the Ministry of Culture. She toured the gallery the day before the robbery and didn’t think it was well-secured.
Attract celebrities with theft
The robbery shocked the world’s media. From the United States to Europe, Latin America, and throughout Asia, nightly newscasts brought news of the Louvre, its Apollo museums, and the missing jewels to hundreds of millions of people. Some say the increased attention rivals, or exceeds, the frenzy that followed Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s 2018 “Apeshit” video, which was shot inside the museum. The Louvre is once again a global set.
For generations, british royal regalia Captivating the imagination throughout the centuries of coronation ceremonies, the Tower of London exhibits have captivated millions of people each year. Meanwhile, France’s jewels remained in the shadows. This week’s heist tips the balance.
One of the earliest symbols of that celebrity effect may have been the survivor piece itself – Empress Eugénie’s emerald-set crown, which fell during the holidays and was studded with more than 1,300 diamonds – which may now be the gallery’s most talked-about relic.
“I had never even heard of Eugenie’s crown before,” said Mateo Ruiz, 27, visiting from Seville. “It’s the first thing I want to see when the gallery reopens.”
Among the treasures that have escaped the clutches of thieves are the legendary gems that still shine under glass: the Regent Diamond, Sancy, and Hortensia. In addition to Empress Eugénie’s damaged crown, authorities said another stolen jewel-encrusted item had since been secretly recovered, but they declined to identify it.
The heist has not diminished the Louvre’s charm. palace museum Reopening with maximum crowds on WednesdayEven though the jewelry remains missing and the robbery is extensive. Long before the robbery, the museum Tensions under mass tourism With around 33,000 visitors per day, staff have warned that they cannot easily absorb another surge, especially with the Apollo Gallery in lockdown and security resources stretched.
The jewels represent the history of France itself.
For France, the losses exceed precious stones and metals, totaling more than $100 million. It is a page torn from the national record. The Apollo Gallery reads the country as a timeline of gold and light, from the Bourbon ceremonies to Napoleon’s home empire to modern France.
Firestone says: The jewels, she argues, are “the Louvre’s final expression of the monarchy, a glorious echo of the king and queen as France enters a new era.” They are not ornaments, she argues, but a chapter in French history that marks the end of the royal order and the beginning of today’s France.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the theft was an “incalculable” loss of heritage, and the museum said the pieces had “immense” historical weight and served as a reminder that money was not the only thing lost.
Many have also seen surprising security flaws.
“It’s amazing that they couldn’t stop a few people in broad daylight,” said Nadia Benjamina, a 52-year-old Parisian shopkeeper who visits the gallery every month. “There were mistakes, but they were avoidable. That’s the scar.”
Investigators said the attackers used a basket lift to push up the building’s Seine-facing façade, pried open a window, destroyed two display cases and fled on motorcycles, all within minutes. Officials said an alarm was sounded, security personnel gathered in the gallery and the intruders were evacuated. The collection spanned the Royal and Imperial Suites of sapphires, emeralds and diamonds, and also included pieces related to Marie-Amélie, Hortense, Marie-Louise and Empress Eugénie.
In Senate testimony, the Louvre’s director, Laurence de Cale, acknowledged a “terrible failure”, citing gaps in the visibility of outdoor cameras, and proposed installing vehicle barriers and a police box inside the museum. She tendered her resignation. The Minister of Culture refused. The robbery followed months of warnings about chronic staffing shortages and crowd pressure points.
draw a crowd to see something that isn’t there
Outside closed doors, visitors come to see the invisible.
“I came to see where it happened,” said Tobias Klein, 24, an architecture student. “Those barricades are appalling. People look on with wonder and curiosity.”
Some people feel a glimmer of hope. “They’re ghosts now, but there’s still hope that they’ll be found,” said artist Rose Nguyen, 33, who lives in Reims. “It’s the same strange magnetism that the Mona Lisa had after 1911. The story becomes part of the object.”
Curators have warned that re-cutting or melting the gemstones would be a second act of violence. In museums, authenticity lives in the original: the mount, the design, the goldsmith’s handiwork. And it includes an uninterrupted story of who made, wore, cherished, displayed, and, yes, stole the object.
Whether loss now brings legend is the uncertain future of the Louvre.
“In this weird fame economy, even bad news gets attention, and attention creates icons,” Firestone said.
