what you need to know about the heist of the year in Burgundy

Thursday, November 21, helmeted individuals entered the Hiéron museum in Paray-le-Monial (Saône-et-Loire) to plunder the Via Vitae, a masterpiece of sacred art classified as a national treasure. The thieves fled on a motorbike with loot estimated at 750,000 euros. No casualties have been reported.

It was around 4 p.m., Thursday, November 21, when 3 helmeted individuals entered the Hiéron museum in Paray-le-Monial (Saône-et-Loire) with weapons in hand. A fourth individual remained outside to the lookout. The operation, which appears to have been carefully prepared, targeted the Via Vitae, a 20th century masterpiece classified as a national treasure.

It is therefore in the middle of the afternoon, while the museum welcomes around fifteen visitors who have come to enjoy the riches of the Musée du Hiéron – the oldest museum of sacred art in France – that 4 individuals who came on motorbikes unfold the scenario of this unprecedented robbery. The 3 individuals who burst into the museum, helmets screwed on their heads, have only one objective: the The Way of Life.

They quickly put the 4 staff members to flight, who still find time to trigger the museum alarm. According to information provided by theAFPseveral shots were fired.

Armed with a grinder, the criminals then attacked the thick wall of armored glass which protects the The Way of Lifea monumental work estimated at between 5 and 7 million euros. The work, made up of a multitude of precious pieces, is then cut up and looted. They take from the The Way of Life several figures in gold, ivory and diamond pieces for an amount estimated at 750,000 euros. Finally, the perpetrators fled on a motorbike, not without first scattering puncture nails on the ground which would delay the police pursuing them.

Jean-Marc Nesme, the mayor of Paray-le-Monial, says he is shocked by this theft which allegedly took place “in two to three minutes“. He deplores a “catastrophe“who touches one”national treasure classified as such by the Ministry of Culture; a property which is also part of the heritage of Paray-le-Monial“.

For Maud Siron, Director of the Musée du Hieron and direct witness to the robbery, the damage caused to this work “high historical, artistic and heritage value“are for some”irreversible“. And “rampage“which puts it in a form of”anger mixed with sadness” However, she salutes the professionalism of the museum teams and places herself in a form of “reconnaissance“toward the criminals for not having committed”human damage“.

A psychological help unit has been set up by Samu with a dedicated number for people who would like support. Staff and visitors would have been very shocked by this robbery, we are told.

The Via Vitae is a monumental work, both for the richness of the work fashioned by the famous Parisian jeweler Joseph Chaumet in 1904 and for its dimensions: 2.70 meters high and 3 meters wide.

According to the description of the Hieron museum, which sees in The Way of Life that's right”Mona Lisa“, ce “Life path ” is an exceptional work made of precious materials: gold and ivory for the one hundred and thirty-eight figurines representing scenes from the life of Christ, gilded and patinated silver and rock crystal forming the Trinity in glory, platinum, diamonds and rubies depicting the Eucharist, marbles of different colors, alabaster, onyx and gilded bronze constituting the base and decorations of each scene.

Since the The Way of Life took place in 2005 in this museum in Paray-le-Monial, located 250 meters from the famous Sacré-Coeur basilica, several theft attempts or thefts have been recorded. In June 2017, two Romay crowns from goldsmith Paul Brunet were stolen without ever being found. They adorned a Virgin and Child in the Notre-Dame de Romay chapel. In September 2022, an attempted intrusion into the first floor of the museum using a ladder was aborted following the triggering of a fire alarm. 3 individuals in their twenties, confused by their fingerprints, were arrested in Marseille.

I condemn with the greatest firmness these unacceptable acts which harm our heritage.

Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture

Quickly after the events, the area of ​​downtown Paray-le-Monial was cordoned off by the police in order to make way for research carried out by the criminal investigation unit of the scientific police. At the same time, the plan “hawk” was deployed to try to intercept the criminals.

Seized of the case, the Mâcon public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the charge of armed theft by an organized gang, and referred the matter to the Dijon research section as well as the central office for the fight against trafficking in cultural property. In a press release, prosecutor Anne-Lise Furstoss explains that “investigations are currently still underway in order to identify and arrest those involved“. The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, for her part reacted on the social networkI condemn with the greatest firmness these unacceptable acts which damage our heritage. (…) All my support to the museum teams and the community“.