Step aside, all ye Hollywood crime thrillers. The biggest drama of them all played out in real life last month. No chilling background scores, no Oscar-winning artistes or brilliantly scripted plots and twists… not even the preferred cover of darkness, when celluloid crimes stereotypically unfold.
Location: The Louvre Museum, Paris
The Diegesis: Daring jewellery heist
Storyline: On the morning of October 19, shortly after the world’s most famous museum opened to visitors, four thieves arrived with a mechanical ladder mounted on a truck. Two of them gained access to the Louvre’s Gallery of Apollo, which houses the French Crown jewels and other historical artefacts, by breaking open a window on the first floor with power tools. Threatening the guards on duty in the room, they cut through the glass cases that showcased priceless crown jewels and brazenly took off with eight pieces of precious valuables. If you thought that a chopper was awaiting them in true action film style, you got it wrong. The suspects escaped on scooters, and in broad daylight!
Here are the twists to this tale: They attempted to set fire to their vehicle outside, which ended in a failed attempt, and they even dropped and left behind the most expensive item of their loot — the crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. Four suspects have been apprehended, and investigations are on. But as stated earlier, there are no dons or stars in the cast so far, as the thieves seem to be petty local criminals who enacted this mega blockbuster.
This certainly isn’t the first time that the iconic museum has been the setting for a suspense thriller. In 1911, another audacious theft occurred on its premises, and there was a heroine in the narrative — the one and only Mona Lisa. Yes, the same Lisa of ‘the enigmatic smile’ fame. This time, there weren’t any props like ladders, scooters, or tools. A former museum worker, Vincenzo Peruggia, hid inside a closet on a Sunday and simply walked out the next morning with the painting under a white smock that he wore, so he would blend in with the museum staff. Even though a hunt was launched, the case remained unsolved as Peruggia kept the painting in the confines of his apartment for two whole years. When it finally surfaced in 1913 to make its way to an Italian art dealer, he was nabbed, and the lady was restored in the museum, now with the status of a global celebrity, thanks to the media frenzy.
Perhaps we never learn from history. Or maybe we take our history itself and all the treasures from it for granted. Security lapses have surely allowed such heists. When the most visited, high revenue earning museum in the world is not given the protection it needs, then what can be said about the existence of ordinary human lives? It’s time to wake up and secure our art and heritage, so future generations can truly understand the present world through these visual documentations of our evolution. May these thriller scripts be reserved for the screen!
