Thieves broke into Paris’ National Museum of Natural History early Tuesday and stole rare gold worth an estimated $700,000, exploiting a security breach that had disabled the museum’s alarm and surveillance systems in July.
The criminals used blow torches and angle grinders to break into display cases at the Gallery of Geology and Mineralogy, making off with huge amounts of gold from the museum’s national collections.
“We are dealing with an extremely professional team, perfectly aware of where they needed to go and with professional equipment,” Emmanuel Skoulios, the museum’s general director, told French broadcaster BFM TV. “It was absolutely no coincidence that they went after these specimens.”
Museum security staff discovered the break-in Tuesday morning and called police. The gallery remains closed to the public while enhanced surveillance measures are in place.
A police source told French newspaper Le Parisien that the thieves appeared aware of the July cyberattack that knocked out security systems. The museum has not commented on the security breach.
The stolen pieces were native gold specimens, which is gold in its natural, unrefined state as found in streams or extracted from the earth. Native gold sells for about one and a half times the price of refined gold, currently valued at $3,600 per ounce.
“It’s a natural piece of artwork,” said Carlin Green, a geologist from the United States Geological Survey.
The museum valued the stolen specimens at $700,000 but called them “of inestimable heritage value” due to their historical and scientific significance.
“The National Museum of Natural History deplores this inestimable loss for research, heritage, and public outreach,” the museum said in a statement.
The theft comes during a wave of museum heists across France. Earlier this month, thieves broke into the Adrien Dubouché National Museum in Limoges and stole three Chinese porcelain pieces worth over $10 million, all classified as “national treasures.”
In November, four men with axes and baseball bats smashed display cases at Paris’ Cognacq-Jay Museum in broad daylight, stealing several 18th-century works. Insurance payments for that heist exceeded $4 million.
The next day, armed robbers hit a museum in Saône-et-Loire in central France, stealing jewelry worth several million dollars.
In May 2024, armed robbers targeted the Harry Winston boutique on one of Paris’ most exclusive shopping streets.
“This incident comes at a critical time for cultural institutions and museums in particular,” the Natural History Museum said. “Several public collections have indeed been targeted by thefts in recent months.”
The National Museum of Natural History was founded in 1793 and houses dinosaur fossils, minerals, meteorites, and other specimens. It attracts millions of visitors annually to its location in Paris’ 5th district.
The Adrien Dubouché Museum in Limoges houses around 18,000 works, including the world’s largest public collection of Limoges porcelain. The stolen Chinese porcelain included two dishes and a vase.
Police continue investigating the Natural History Museum theft. The museum declined to provide additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.