Not just the Louvre: Museums across France are ripe targets for thieves

• Museums across France face a surge in thefts, with criminals stealing valuable art, coins, and relics, inspired partly by the high-profile 2025 Louvre crown jewels heist.
• Experts link the crimes to social media exposure, rising precious metal prices, and copycat thieves emboldened by weak legal responses and visible museum vulnerabilities.
• French authorities have proposed 33 security measures, but local museums remain vulnerable, with staff traumatised and challenges in hiring security personnel continuing.

PARIS – When thieves broke into a museum on the French Riviera on Sept 8 and made off with two paintings by impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir, President Emmanuel Macron had just been a few kilometres away presiding over a conference about how to save the art of filmmaking.

The robbery, the latest in a string of thefts since the sensational heist of crown jewels at the Louvre in October 2025, suggested that France has a bigger challenge protecting its artistic treasures.