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World | Opinion | Art & Culture
Seven Minutes to Make History
At 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, a group of four men in balaclavas broke into the Apollo Gallery inside the Louvre Museum in Paris. Nobody was harmed, but the thieves escaped with eight priceless jewels.
It’s pretty amazing what’s possible in just seven minutes on a Sunday morning. Most people can manage to get out of the shower, dry their hair, and then make a dash for the living room sofa. Some of the more organised types can decide which McMuffin they want from McDonald’s – and the superhuman can decide what movie to put on the TV.
Others, it seems, can make history: bring Netflix’s Lupin to life.
Others can make history – and steal millions from the Disneyland of the art world.
The fact that a group of thieves managed to rob eight historical pieces of jewellery from the Louvre – in the heart of Paris, at 9:30 a.m. on a weekend – is astonishing in itself.
Artful but Alarming
A situation worthy of mass applause and an unbelievable display of talent and teamwork, even if it’s been ill-used. I find it hard enough to get up and butter some toast before 10 a.m., so imagining what it’s like to sprint through the streets of Paris, evade police, and succeed in under ten minutes is an achievement I can’t even comprehend.
But even with the brilliant skills of the four boys in balaclavas, questions need to be asked about how they were able to get inside so easily. All they did was open a back door and get a clean run through on goal.
Surely the €17 entry fee wasn’t the only security system they had on show.
Surely, even with its power to scare away the bravest of souls, the rise in admission fees isn’t meant to act as its main counter-defence. It’s a total embarrassment and a poor way for the security staff to end their week – an enormous lack of planning and resources for one of the world’s most treasured art depots.
The Mona Lisa’s Near Miss
I suppose the only consolation is that the place that holds the official copy of the Mona Lisa still has one of Italy’s greatest masterpieces hanging on the wall – ready for when the doors eventually swing open again.
We already have more than enough fuel to start another world war – losing Leonardo da Vinci’s painting might have been the spark that did it.
Even if seven minutes was a personal best time for these criminals (an unconfirmed statistic that should be taken with a pinch of salt – they may have done better in try-outs), I still want to know what happened to the Parisian police. Did they blow into a cloud of smoke? Or were they simply keen to finish their breakfast before it got too cold?
A Lesson for the Future
Whatever the excuse for arriving late, it’s still seven times longer than it should have taken. One of the globe’s biggest tourist spots – and it takes them that long for emergency services to respond. Even if this wasn’t quite literally the heist of the century, it raises serious concerns.
You wouldn’t ask someone’s heart to take a seven-minute break during a heart attack just so an ambulance could stroll in.
It’s a genuine issue, and one that surely needs to be addressed before even a hint of reopening happens.
The French government need to forget the lengthening list of political resignations and start looking forward, into the future. They have to set a precedent that this kind of art crime can’t happen again.
Because if they don’t, these crimes will only get worse.
