The Louvre has handed over some of its prized jewels to the Bank of France after a tragic lapse in the museum’s security was revealed.
On Friday an undercover police escort oversaw the transfer of some of the remaining jewels to a bank 500 meters (about 500 yards) from the museum, French media reported.
They will now be stored in the bank’s most secure vault, 26m (85ft) below the ground floor of its elegant headquarters in central Paris.
The vault contains 90% of France’s gold reserves, as well as Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and other national treasures. Its contents are worth an estimated €600m (£520m).
According to the bank’s website, the “Souterrain,” as the vault is known, was designed to withstand all attacks.
The main shaft is protected by a seven-ton door made of 50 cm-thick, flame-resistant concrete and reinforced with steel.
Behind this door is a 35-tonne rotating concrete turret, which the bank says “prevents any possibility of forced entry”.
Last Sunday, masked thieves used an angle grinder to smash a reinforced window in the Louvre gallery of the Apollo, where France’s crown jewels are kept.
Within eight minutes, the gang had seized the treasure, including the necklace of Napoleon’s wife Empress Marie-Louise and the diadem of Napoleon III’s wife Empress Eugenie, worth €88m (£77m).
To gain access to the gallery, the thieves used a mechanical ladder on the back of the lorry to take them to the first floor balcony.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has said he has “every confidence” the thieves will be caught.
Although French ministers insisted on safety at the museum that day, the director of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, spoke of the weak and “ageing” infrastructure.
On Wednesday, Des Cars told French lawmakers that the only security camera monitoring the break-in’s exterior wall was facing the wrong way.
Post Comment