A piece of jewelry, “Via Vitae” by Parisian goldsmith Joseph Chaumet, estimated at several million euros, was stolen Thursday, November 21 during an armed attack in a sacred art museum in Saône-et -Loire. The work is classified as a national treasure by the Ministry of Culture and is estimated at several million euros.
An obviously highly planned heist and a national treasure damaged and in the wild. A piece of jewelry estimated at several million euros was stolen Thursday, November 21 during an armed attack in a sacred art museum in Paray-le-Monial (Saône-et-Loire). The criminals seized The Way of Life (1904) by Parisian goldsmith Joseph Chaumet, a work classified as a national treasure by the Ministry of Culture. It is estimated between 5 and 7 million euros, according to Jean-Marc Nesme, the mayor of the town, who deplores “a great loss for Paray-le-Monial and for the national heritage”.
The robbers arrived on motorbikes around 4 p.m. at the Hiéron museum and three of them entered, helmeted, into the establishment open to the public, the fourth keeping watch outside, said the mayor, confirming information from Journal of Saône-et-Loire. After firing shots, they headed toward the centerpiece of the museum, an imposing work featuring 138 figures, gold and ivory statuettes, which retraces the life of Jesus through nine scenes. They unfold on a marble mountain 2 meters high, surrounded by alabaster representing the waves. The whole is surmounted by two allegorical female figures holding a host set with diamonds and rubies.
Nails on the road to delay the police
The robbers stole his chryselephantine statuettes, as well as emerald decorations, after sawing with a chainsaw the armored windows which protected the nearly three meter high work. They also sawed off part of its marble base. The robbers fled on motorbikes, throwing nails on the road, thus neutralizing two gendarmerie vehicles which were on their heels, a sign that the operation was prepared, the gendarmerie said.
Around twenty visitors were present on the ground floor of the museum at the time of the robbery, as well as its staff, now “traumatized», Relates the mayor. They managed to escape and some took refuge in a neighboring house. The Musée du Hieron is one of the oldest French sacred art museums. He was already the victim of a burglary in 2017, where two Romay crowns from goldsmith Paul Brunet were stolen, as well as an attempted burglary in September 2022.
Already a museum robbed this week, in Paris
On Wednesday, another museum was the subject of an armed attack, this time in Paris. Four robbers entered the Cognacq-Jay museum, in the presence of visitors, to seize five collector's boxes and snuff boxes by smashing the display case which contained them with axes and baseball bats. The stolen objects had been loaned to the museum for the “Luxury in Pocket” exhibition. The damage is currently being estimated.
Two of the works stolen from the Cognacq-Jay museum belong to the Louvre museum. “Considering the historical value and precious nature of these pieces”the Louvre explained that it wished “facilitate the rapid identification of these two works of art as part of ongoing investigations in order, in particular, to make their concealment difficult”.
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