A gallery attendant on duty at the Louvre when thieves broke in and stole eight of France's crown jewels has stated, no one could have been prepared for what unfolded as visitors began to arrive on Sunday morning.
All of a sudden we heard a huge noise, she told radio station France Inter, marking the first account given by an attendant at the scene.
The unnamed attendant and two colleagues initially assumed the noise was caused by an angry visitor, but soon realized that it was a dull, slightly metallic sound — the moment thieves used an angle grinder to break through a reinforced window into the Gallery of Apollo, home to the Louvre's collection of historic jewelry.
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, worth an estimated total of €88 million (£77 million).
The thieves lifted a mechanical ladder onto the back of a lorry to access a first-floor balcony and gain entry to the gallery.
In a panic, two tourists ran towards them. The attendant recounted, I saw one of the criminals turn around with something that looked to me like a chainsaw, then I yelled at my colleagues to get out. She shouted again that it was a robbery and urged everyone to flee.
One colleague managed to alert security over a walkie-talkie, and they evacuated the gallery swiftly without truly grasping the situation. As they exited, they shut all the doors to protect neighboring galleries.
Reflecting on the event, she remarked, For us, it was unbelievable the display cases could have been broken... never for a moment did we think there was such a risk... nobody can be prepared for that.
Another Louvre employee described the moments following the escape of the thieves. A security guard noted a strong smell of petrol around the scene as he arrived just as the gang made their getaway on scooters.
The gang had ruptured their lorry's fuel tank, with a blowtorch found nearby. The guard asserted, It’s clear they intended to set fire to their vehicle. I genuinely think we thwarted their plan because they would never have left behind so much evidence. They discovered that in the chaos, one of the thieves had dropped a piece they aimed to steal, Empress Eugenie's crown, which was damaged.
Louvre director Laurence des Cars explained that while the crown appeared damaged, delicate restoration would be possible. She also criticized the museum's security mechanisms, highlighting years of underfunding and only one external camera facing the wrong way at the break-in location.
The attendant corroborated this sentiment, expressing fears about a declining security culture at the museum.
