A small museum in northeastern France reported a theft on its premises on Monday, October 20, one day after the astonishing daytime jewels heist at the Louvre. La Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot, housed in the Hôtel du Breuil-de-St-Germain private mansion in Langres, said that a display had been broken into and several gold and silver coins stolen while the institution was closed on Monday per its usual operating schedule.
According to a press release issued by the Langres municipal police, museum staff arrived on Tuesday morning to find evidence of forced entry as well as shards of the display case that held the coins scattered across the floor. Investigators believe that the burglary was both targeted and planned, and the museum remains closed to the public until further notice.
Hyperallergic has reached out to the museum and police for comment.
Devoted to the 18th-century French philosopher, art critic, and writer Denis Diderot, La Maison des Lumières houses a collection of his personal effects and other objects pertaining to his life, work, and writing. Tools like printing hardware and measuring implements are displayed alongside evidence of Diderot’s research and his text for the first edition of the Encyclopediè, which he co-edited, as are various portraits and carved busts of the influential Enlightenment-era philosopher.
The precious coins taken by the burglars were part of a trove of nearly 2,000 uncovered in 2011, found within the museum’s woodwork during a structural renovation of the mansion. Per French law, half of the assortment was awarded to the person who discovered it, while the remainder entered the custody of the town as the property owner — a portion of which was ultimately displayed in a vitrine at the museum.
The local media outlet JHM reported that experts valued the total trove of coins, issued between 1790 and 1840, at approximately €90,000 (~$104,559).
The Langres robbery happened shortly after thieves stole French crown jewels recently valued at $102 million in a brazen heist at the Louvre that some have attributed to inadequate security protocols.
Last month, the Museum of Natural History in Paris was also targeted by a thief who stole six gold nuggets worth €1.5 million (~$1.74 million) from the institution’s mineralogy gallery during a lapse in its surveillance system. A woman has since been identified and charged with the robbery as of today, October 22.
