Thieves Steal €600,000 Worth of Gold from Paris Natural History Museum

TDT | Paris

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The Natural History Museum in Paris has fallen victim to a major theft after burglars made off with gold samples worth an estimated €600,000 ($700,000), the institution confirmed on Tuesday.

The museum, located in the city’s upscale 5th district and renowned for its dinosaur skeletons, stuffed animals, and geology collections, reported the break-in on Tuesday morning. Investigators believe the intruders used an angle grinder and a blow torch to force entry into the riverside complex, a popular destination for both locals and tourists.

“The theft concerns several specimens of native gold from the national collections,” the museum’s press office told AFP. “While the stolen specimens are valued at around €600,000 based on the price of raw gold, they carry an immeasurable heritage value.”

Native gold refers to natural alloys of gold and silver in their raw, unrefined state.

According to reports in Le Parisien, the museum’s alarm and surveillance systems had been disabled in July following a cyber attack, a vulnerability the thieves appeared to have exploited.

The incident adds to a troubling series of thefts from French cultural institutions in recent months. Earlier this month, the Adrien Dubouché National Museum in Limoges was targeted, with thieves stealing Chinese porcelain treasures worth €6.5 million.

In November last year, armed men wielding axes and bats smashed display cases in broad daylight at the Cognacq-Jay Museum in Paris, escaping with several 18th-century works. The following day, jewellery valued at several million euros was stolen in an armed robbery at a museum in Saône-et-Loire.

Museum officials described the latest theft as part of a wider threat facing cultural institutions. “This incident comes at a critical time for museums, as several public collections have been targeted in recent months,” the museum noted.

Police investigations into the Paris robbery are ongoing.