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Like our British neighbors, France has its own crown jewels, a collection of gems and diamonds inherited from centuries of royal and imperial magnificence, on display in the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre Museum.<\/p>\n
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Although few jewels of royal origin<\/b> remained following the spectacular robbery of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne<\/b> (ancestor of the Mobilier National) on the night of September 11-12, 1792<\/b>, on what is now the Place de la Concorde, the world’s largest museum still housed jewelry reflecting all the expertise of the goldsmiths of the First and Second Empires.<\/b><\/p>\n
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Among the jewelry kept in the Apollo Gallery<\/b>, eight jewels, most of which date from the reign of Emperor Napoleon III,<\/b> were stolen on the morning of October 19<\/b>. This \u201cpriceless\u201d booty, reflecting the history of France and the French people, was stolen by four criminals disguised as construction workers.<\/b><\/p>\n
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At around 9:30 a.m. \u2013 in broad daylight \u2013<\/b> a commando of four criminals<\/b>, two in a truck equipped with a freight elevator and two on powerful scooters<\/b>, arrived at the foot of the Apollon Gallery.<\/b><\/p>\n
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Three of them, wearing yellow vests<\/b> to simulate a construction site and motorcycle helmets<\/b>, used a forklift<\/b> and set up traffic cones.<\/p>\n
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Using the truck’s basket, they hoisted themselves up to the first-floor balconies of the museum and used an angle grinder to break a French window in the Galerie Apollon<\/b> overlooking the Seine. The same method<\/b> was reportedly used to break and loot two display cases, one containing \u201cNapoleon’s jewels\u201d and the other \u201cjewels of French sovereigns,\u201d<\/b> the former of which was completely emptied.<\/p>\n