The Louvre has transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France after a spectacular daylight heist exposed woeful flaws in the museum's security.
On Friday, a secret police escort oversaw the transfer of some of the remaining jewels to the Bank, located just 500 meters from the museum. They will now be stored in the Bank's most secure vault, situated 26 meters below the ground floor of its elegant headquarters in central Paris.
The vault is home to 90% of France's gold reserves, as well as items like the notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci and other national treasures, with an estimated worth of €600 million (£520 million).
The Souterraine, as the vault is known, was designed to withstand all attacks, according to the bank’s website. Its main shaft is protected by a 50cm-thick, seven-tonne door made of flame-resistant concrete and reinforced with steel. Behind this door is a 35-tonne rotating concrete turret that prevents any possibility of forced entry.
Last Sunday, masked thieves used an angle grinder to smash through a reinforced window into the Louvre's Gallery of Apollo, where France's crown jewels are kept. Within eight minutes, the gang seized treasures, including a necklace that belonged to Napoleon's wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem of Napoleon III's wife, Empress Eugenie, valued at €88 million (£77 million).
The thieves used a mechanical ladder mounted on a lorry to access a first-floor balcony to gain entry into the gallery.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has expressed confidence that the thieves will be caught. While French ministers maintain that the museum's security protocols were properly followed on the day of the heist, Louvre director, Laurence des Cars, acknowledged weak and "aging" infrastructure. On Wednesday, des Cars revealed that the security camera overlooking the area where the break-in occurred was facing the wrong direction.
