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A major incident that shook the art world and security agencies has come to light from the city of Cagnes-sur-Mer in France. On Tuesday morning, two unknown thieves broke into France’s famous and historical Renoir Museum with great precision and made away with four priceless paintings worth approximately Rs 98 crore. After this audacious incident, there has been a stir throughout France and once again serious questions are being raised on the security arrangements of museums. Although the police and local administration are continuously raiding in search of the accused, this theft of artefacts at the international level has exposed the security system.
According to official information given by the city’s mayor Brian Mason, the incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday when the alarm deployed for the security of the museum suddenly went off at exactly 5:48 am. On hearing the sound of the alarm, the local municipal police immediately swung into action and without wasting a single moment reached the spot within just five minutes. However, the vicious thieves had managed to escape from the spot after committing this sensational crime a few seconds before the police arrived. After scanning the CCTV cameras of the city, footage of the two suspects running away has emerged, on the basis of which the police is conducting rapid raids to identify and nab them.
When the thieves were running away in panic after committing this big theft, due to the noise of the arrival of the police and their haste, a priceless painting fell from their hands on the way. The local police took prompt action and recovered the fallen artefact safely from the spot. But despite this, the thieves were completely successful in taking away three other very priceless paintings with them. Art experts believe that these paintings are very important historically and their value in the international art market is estimated at around Rs 98 crore. The police are now investigating whether a big international gang of thieves is behind this theft and is planning to sell the stolen artefacts abroad.
This museum is not like any ordinary art gallery, but it has great historical and cultural importance. This museum is dedicated to the famous French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This grand building used to be the last residence of the great painter, just before his death in the year 1919. After his departure, in the year 1960, this historic house was converted into a magnificent museum. In this museum, along with the excellent and amazing paintings of Renoir, many priceless objects related to his personal life like his easel and his used wheelchair are kept safe, which art lovers from all over the world come here to see.
This latest and major theft in the Renoir Museum of France has brought back memories of another horrifying incident that happened last year in the art world. Less than a year ago, a huge robbery was carried out in broad daylight in the world’s most secure and prestigious ‘Louvre Museum’ located in Paris, the capital of France. During that sensational incident, thieves stole eight priceless items worth approximately 100 million dollars i.e. crores of rupees from the Louvre Museum. The wounds of that incident had not yet healed when this new incident at the Renoir Museum has proved that there is still a huge and dangerous flaw in the security system of France’s historical museums.
Art and culture experts believe that museums of historical and national importance around the world are becoming soft targets of thieves. The paintings and artefacts kept in these museums do not have any fixed price, rather their value is decided in the auction. In such a situation, smugglers and organized criminals steal these priceless heritage items and sell them in the black market at extremely high prices. French security agencies are now also investigating in depth whether the thieves who committed this theft had any prior knowledge of the internal structure of the museum, the security circle and the location of the cameras or not. However, after the country’s international disgrace, there is tremendous pressure on the police administration to catch the thieves as soon as possible and safely recover the remaining three priceless paintings.