All posts tagged: Louvre Robbery

French Filmmaker Romain Gavras Is Turning the 2 M. Louvre Heist Into a Movie

French Filmmaker Romain Gavras Is Turning the $102 M. Louvre Heist Into a Movie

Published by Jenni Sidey

It was inevitable: The audacious robbery of the Louvre, in which thieves broke into one of the world’s most well-attended museums in broad daylight and stole $102 million in jewels, will now be a film. The new film, set to be directed by rising French filmmaker Romain Gavras, will be adapted from Main Basse sur le Louvre (A Grab at the Louvre), a new book released Wednesday in France by French publisher Flammarion. The book was written by three journalists from Le Parisien, Le Monde, and Paris Match and, according to the publisher, shows how “the theft of artworks has become a business like any other for many criminals,” according to Le Monde. Related Articles The film rights were recently sold to Iconoclast, the production company behind several recent Harmony Korine movies, including his biggest mainstream hit, Spring Breakers (2013), as well as his much maligned Aggro Dr1ft (2023). The production company has also produced most of Gavras’s films, including The World is Yours (2018), and Athena (2022), which played in competition at the Venice International Film Festival …

Christophe Leribault to Lead Louvre Museum After Des Cars Resigns

Christophe Leribault to Lead Louvre Museum After Des Cars Resigns

Published by José Betancourt

One day after Laurence des Cars resigned from her position as president of the Louvre Museum, President Emmanuel Macron appointed Christophe Leribault, the director of the Palace of Versailles, to take her place. The decision, a government spokesperson told Le Parisien, was annoucned by Macron at the Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday. Leribault, 63, was appointed to lead Versailles in 2024; there he succeeded Catherine Pégard, whose leadership—like des Cars’s—had been questioned, according to Le Monde. Related Articles He is a curator with an expertise in 18th century art. He began his career at Musée Carnavalet in Paris in 1990 and spent 15 years there. He served as a curator in the Louvre’s Department of Graphic Arts in 2006, before becoming director of  the Eugène-Delacroix National Museum in Paris in 2007. In 2012, he became director of the Petit Palais, which houses the CIty of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, and, in 2021, was appointed president of the Musée d’Orsay. There, he replaced des Cars as well. Leribault’s primary mission, a government spokesperson told Le …

French Filmmaker Romain Gavras Is Turning the 2 M. Louvre Heist Into a Movie

French TV Just Aired New Footage of Louvre Robbery

Published by José Betancourt

Earlier this week, French national broadcaster France Télévisions released previously unseen footage of the brazen October robbery at the Louvre, in which thieves made off with $102 million in crown jewels. The four-minute video, aired on the investigative program Complément d’enquête, shows the thieves rushing into the gallery and smashing several display cases—using both their fists and an angle grinder—while security guards stand just a few feet away. As reported by El País and the Times of London, the guards are seen from multiple angles remaining largely motionless as the scene unfolds. One guard appears to confront the thieves with a rope stanchion before backing down; another makes a phone call. The rest do little more than watch. Related Articles The footage appears to confirm findings from a security audit released in October, as well as testimony given during Senate hearings held in the robbery’s aftermath. The audit concluded that the museum’s security system was “outdated and inadequate,” citing a severe lack of functioning security cameras. During one of the first hearings, Louvre director Laurence …

PInvestigators Say Stolen Louvre Jewels Were Hidden in Parking Lot

PInvestigators Say Stolen Louvre Jewels Were Hidden in Parking Lot

Published by Jenni Sidey

Three months on, the $102 million in jewels brazenly stolen from the Louvre in Paris remain missing. While Paris police have arrested at least eight people believed to be connected to the October 19 robbery, investigators have made little progress in recovering the loot. Recently, however, officers from Paris’s Anti-Gang Brigade (BRB) identified the jewels’ last known location. As reported by Le Parisien, the BRB traced the stolen items to an underground parking lot in Aubervilliers, a suburb of Paris where four of the suspects lived. Investigators were able to follow two scooters, which were used in the escape, to the garage roughly an hour after the heist. CCTV footage shows two suspects dismounting the scooters and passing the stolen jewels back and forth. Police believe the individuals captured on camera are Abdoulaye N. and Slimane K. Related Articles Abdoulaye N., a 39-year-old former security guard, is reportedly known on social media as Doudou Cross Bitume, where he often posted videos performing motorbike stunts, including on a Yamaha TMax believed to have been used in …

Louvre Closes as Staff Strikes Continue

Louvre Closes as Staff Strikes Continue

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Louvre Museum closed to visitors on Monday, January 12, after staff launched another strike over pay, staffing levels, and working conditions, according to Le Monde. The closure marks the latest in a string of disruptions at the world’s most visited museum. In a notice posted on its website, the museum said it was unable to open due to the walkout and that tickets would be automatically reimbursed. The closure follows a series of stoppages and delayed openings that have repeatedly interrupted operations since mid-December. Related Articles Museum staff have staged multiple strike actions in recent weeks, including a three-day walkout before Christmas and several partial closures and delayed openings in early January. On January 5, the Louvre reopened only after a three-hour delay, with several galleries remaining closed as workers resumed strike action following a brief holiday pause. Unions representing Louvre employees say staff are overworked and that the museum is understaffed and poorly maintained; workers are calling for increased hiring, higher wages, and greater investment in infrastructure. The disputes have unfolded amid heightened scrutiny of the institution following an October daytime …

Four Additional Suspects Arrested in Connection to Louvre Museum Heist

Four Additional Suspects Arrested in Connection to Louvre Museum Heist

Published by Jenni Sidey

Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of the French crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris last month, USA Today reported. Two men and two women between the ages of 31 and 40 were arrested on Tuesday and are being questioned, according to statements made by French prosecutors on Tuesday. All four suspects are from the area. There have been no charges or further details of the suspects’ possible roles in the heist. These arrests follow four others who were arrested in connection to the heist last month, with one still believed to be at large. (It is unclear if one of the suspects arrested on Tuesday is considered the fifth missing suspect.) Of the four, one was a taxi driver and the other a delivery man and garbage collector, who was arrested at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to flee on a one-way flight to Algeria. The other two are a man and woman who have been identified as domestic partners with two children together; the woman was …