The French culture minister Catherine Pégard has called on museums to protect their treasures “by all possible means” following a spate of violent burglaries targeting silverware and jewellery across the country. On Monday (27 July), nine months after the theft of the French crown jewels from the Musée du Louvre, the minister unveiled a “national security plan” at a press briefing, warning that “no place is being spared, from the smallest church to the biggest museum”.
The most recent museum robbery happened last Thursday (23 July) when a major archeological object was stolen from the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais in the Burgundy region. Two men smashed a glass case in front of visitors and grabbed the collar of the “Lady of Vix” (around 500BC). The 1lb solid gold collar was the most significant piece found in the grave of a Celtic princess discovered in 1953. One suspect has been arrested, Pégard says, but no details have been given on the investigation.
The collar of the “Lady of Vix” (around 500BC) © Rosemania via Wikimedia Commons
Other recent thefts have taken place at a museum dedicated to the jeweller Lalique in Alsace in eastern France and at the Musée du Hiéron in central France.
Since the Louvre heist on 19 October 2025, more than 3,100 museums, monuments and churches have been mapped as sensitive places, Pégard said at the press briefing. Her ministry has budgeted €30m over three years to improve security at local museums. However, “there is no risk zero”, she admitted. She noted that the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais had spent €150,000 over the past two years on reinforcing its gates and installing cameras. After two failed break-in attempts at night, the perpetrators chose to act in broad daylight.
The shock created by the disappearance of the Vix collar was such that Dominique Garcia, the president of France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research, urged museums to place their silverware and jewels in safes and replace them with copies, “which are getting better and better”. The new Louvre director Christophe Leribault chose to reopen the museum’s Apollo Gallery on 22 July emptied of its jewellery.
However, Pégard argued that “it would be a grave mistake to replace our masterworks, which have to be displayed, with copies”. She insisted that “each solution should be adapted to the local situation”. Pégard also disregarded the idea of posting armed guards to protect the most vulnerable galleries. Following three parliamentary reports on the matter, her plan includes 33 security measures, from infrastructure improvement to better training, “placing the safety of collections as the first priority of all”.
