The Louvre Museum in Paris has decided to move some of the most precious jewels from its exhibition to the Bank of France after the robbery it suffered last Sunday, October 19.
According to RTL radio, the relocation of several pieces from the Apollo gallery of the Louvre took place last Friday by the French police as part of a secret operation, of which more details are currently unknown.
A week ago, four thieves stole eight precious pieces from the Louvre worth an estimated value of 88 million euros. The robbers used a crane to break a window on the exterior facade during the museum's opening hours.
After the robbery, the Louvre director, Laurence des Cars, highlighted that the Louvre museum has a weak and "aging" security infrastructure. Additionally, it was confirmed that the only security camera monitoring the exterior wall where the robbery occurred was oriented in the wrong direction.
This is the armored vault of the Bank of France
Since this Friday, some of the most precious works and pieces of the Louvre Museum are stored in the safest vault of the Bank of France, 26 meters deep from the ground floor of its elegant headquarters in the center of Paris.
The vault also houses 90% of France's gold reserves, as well as Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks and other national treasures. Its contents have an estimated value of 600 million euros.
The main area of the Bank of Paris is protected by a door 50 cm thick and seven tons of fireproof concrete reinforced with steel.
Behind this door is a 35-ton rotating concrete turret, which according to the bank "prevents any possibility of forced entry."