Surge of Museum Heists Threatens France’s Cultural Heritage

Last Tuesday thieves broke into a museum on the French Riviera and stole two paintings by Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The robbery occurred while President Emmanuel Macron was a few miles away, presiding over a conference on preserving the art of filmmaking. Police recovered neither the artworks nor the perpetrators, and the incident follows a high-profile theft of the Louvre’s crown jewels last October.

New York Times

The Renoir theft is part of a broader wave of cultural property crimes across France. Reported losses include Chinese porcelain, Huguenot-cross silverware, gold and silver coins, Art Nouveau jewelry, and even a World Cup jersey worn by soccer star Zinedine Zidane. A day after the Louvre incident, a museum dedicated to philosopher Denis Diderot was breached, and a collection of gold and silver coins vanished. Churches have also been targeted, with chalices and communion plates reported stolen. Museum staff, police and government officials describe the spate as a growing challenge for protecting the nation’s artistic patrimony against increasingly violent criminal gangs.

New York Times

Local officials have expressed alarm at the frequency and audacity of the thefts. The mayor of Langres, Théo Caviezel, warned that the string of robberies is fostering a “collective psychosis” among cultural institutions. Police and heritage authorities are reviewing security protocols, and the Ministry of Culture is reportedly assessing additional safeguards for museums and religious sites.

New York Times

• “There is a kind of collective psychosis that is being created,” — Théo Caviezel, the mayor of Langres, a small town in eastern France

New York Times