Another French museum robbed despite ‘special attention’ after Louvre heist

The break-in took place at around 5:30am on Sunday at the museum in Wingen-sur-Moder, a village in the Bas-Rhin department near the German border. Several masked individuals forced open a door and smashed six display cases before fleeing with around 20 pieces of jewelry.

The damage is still being assessed, but one source close to the investigation said the loss could be “close to four million” euros, AFP reported. The stolen items were made of crystal and contained no precious stones, meaning they cannot be melted down.

The mayor of Wingen-sur-Moder suggested the thieves may have been “well informed,” as they immediately targeted the jewelry. The mayor told regional newspaper DNA that “all the alarms went off as they should,” but claimed the security company failed to immediately alert the gendarmes. According to Le Parisien, a cleaner who arrived at the site was the first to call law enforcement.

The raid comes less than a year after thieves stole eight pieces of French Crown Jewels from the Louvre in Paris in October 2025, in a brazen daylight heist valued at around €88 million. Mere hours after the Louvre heist, nearly 2,000 prized coins were reportedly stolen from the Denis Diderot House of Enlightenment in the northeastern town of Langres. Just one month before that, thieves breached the National Museum of Natural History, and stole six rare raw gold nuggets worth some €1.5 million.

The incidents triggered a national scandal over museum security. Le Parisien reported that the Lalique Museum was considered a “sensitive site” and had been receiving “special attention” since the Louvre robbery, but a source close to the investigation said the protection measures were “not sufficient.”

A French parliamentary inquiry released in May found deep flaws in the country’s museum security model, including aging infrastructure, staffing shortages, and inadequate surveillance. The report said only 23% of French museums had an emergency and risk-prevention plan in 2024, while just 54% of institutions had proper video surveillance.

Grand Est regional president Franck Leroy condemned the Lalique burglary as “an unacceptable attack on our heritage,” saying that beyond the stolen works, an emblematic site of French history, craftsmanship, and culture had been hit.

The Lalique Museum, opened in 2011, is dedicated to jeweler and glassmaker Rene Lalique and his successors. The site displays more than 650 works, ranging from Art Nouveau and Art Deco jewelry to modern crystal pieces. The museum said it would remain closed for several days following the burglary, citing the need to prepare for a “calm and safe” reopening.