A second French museum was robbed, just hours after the brazen $100 million robbery at the Louvre on Sunday.
On Monday, city officials discovered that part of an exhibit at the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot (Denis Diderot House of Enlightenment), located in Langres, France, had disappeared, according to local media.
Thieves broke into the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot on Sunday night after knocking down the front door of the Hôtel du Breuil-de-Saint-Germain, which houses the museum. The Washington Post reports.
In a facebook postThe museum said it “will remain closed to the public until further notice, starting this Monday, October 20.”
“The reason? It turns out that the museum was the victim of invasion and an investigation is underway. We will keep you informed about the reopening of the site as soon as we know more,” the publication adds.
The museum, which is closed every Monday, had no visitors present when its security noticed that a sliding door had been forced open and a display case containing gold and silver coins had been broken into, said Pierrick White, a senior local official. he told BFMTV On Wednesday.
White said “not all of the gold and silver coins” in the museum were stolen.
“The gendarmerie, accompanied by our museum teams, are investigating things very closely,” White said. “The people of Langres as a whole were robbed by very malicious people. It’s a bit like the town’s family jewels were stolen.”
The stolen coins, approximately 2,000 of them, were worth around 90,000 euros ($147,000 Canadian). the BBC reports.
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“Law enforcement officers were immediately alerted and responded to the scene,” according to to a press release.
“Accompanied by the director of the site, they carried out a complete inspection of the site. According to first observations, a part of the ‘museum treasure’, a collection of silver and gold coins discovered during the renovation works of the Hôtel du Breuil, which now houses the museum, has disappeared.
“The display case that protected it was found broken on the floor. Museum teams are currently making a precise inventory of the objects that they will hand over to the authorities.”
No other works in the museum were affected during the theft, which authorities believe was “a planned and directed theft,” according to French newspaper Le Parisien.
No arrests have been made and the Hôtel du Breuil-de-Saint-Germain remains closed for an investigation. There does not appear to be any connection to the Louvre robbery.
The news of this other theft comes after the director of the Louvre acknowledged a “terrible failure” at the Paris tourist attraction following the theft of the crown jewel over the weekend.
The world’s most visited museum reopened Wednesday to long lines beneath its iconic glass pyramid for the first time since one of the highest-profile museum heists of the century shocked the world with its audacity and scale.
In testimony before the French Senate, Louvre director Laurence des Cars said the museum had a shortage of security cameras outside the monument and other “weaknesses” exposed by Sunday’s theft.
Under heavy pressure over a robbery that tarnished France’s global image, he testified before a Senate committee that he had tendered his resignation, but the culture minister refused to accept it.
“Today we are experiencing a terrible failure at the Louvre, for which I assume my share of responsibility,” he said.
Images obtained by the French media BFMTV It appears to show two men escaping down an extendable escalator as the basket slowly descends to the ground outside the museum.
The men, one in a neon vest and the other in a motorcycle helmet, appear in no hurry as they flee the Louvre to the ground in the stolen truck in front of the museum, after the robbery that lasted less than eight minutes.
Once they reach the ground, they are no longer in view of the camera, but police said they escaped on motorcycles.
The images were taken from inside the Louvre on Sunday, overlooking the Seine. according to the telegraph. The original source of the video has not been confirmed.
French prosecutors said they were aware of the video but declined to comment, citing the integrity of the ongoing investigation. The investigation is ongoing.
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— With files from The Associated Press
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