CBS News: The priceless jewels thieves stole from the Louvre museum in a brazen heist this week were not privately insured, the French Ministry of Culture said in a statement to the daily newspaper Le Parisien.
French law prohibits entities like the Louvre from insuring its property, except when part of a collection is moved or loaned to another institution, Romain Déchelette, president of France-based Serex Assurances, a fine art insurer, told CBS News.
Because the Louvre is a national museum, its collections are considered state property for which the state alone bears responsibility, according to Déchelette. The French Ministry of Culture did not immediately return a request for comment.
“Everything that belongs to state museums in France is uninsured, unless it leaves the museum,” Déchelette told CBS News.
Déchelette added that if any of the stolen crown jewels had left the museum for another exhibit, the price of insurance would have been calculated based on an estimated value.
“There is necessarily a value in the government accounts, and an estimate would be assigned with commissions and experts,” he explained.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, who is investigating the incident, said Tuesday that the stolen crown jewels are worth an estimated 88 million euros, or $102 million, according to the Associated Press. That estimate doesn’t account for their historical value to France
Prosecutor , whose office is leading the investigation, said about 100 investigators are now involved in the police hunt for the suspects and gems after Sunday’s theft from the world’s most-visited museum.
The heist raises concerns about the national museum’s security vulnerabilities. According to a recent security audit, 35% of the rooms in the Denon Wing, where the stolen jewels are displayed, are not monitored by security cameras, Radio France reported.
