Thieves broke into the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and made off with samples of raw gold worth about $700,000, officials have said, the latest in a wave of heists hitting cultural institutions across France.
The theft took place at the museum’s Gallery of Geology and Mineralogy in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the museum said in a statement, adding that police were notified as soon as security staff discovered the break-in.
“This comes at a critical time for cultural institutions, particularly museums” it said. “Several public collections have been victims of theft in recent months”
Based on the price of raw gold, the stolen items are estimated to be worth about €600,000 ($710,000), though they’re “nevertheless of inestimable heritage value,” the museum said.
“The National Museum of Natural History deplores this inestimable loss for research, heritage, and public outreach,” it added.
The affected gallery, which is now subject to enhanced surveillance measures, will remain closed to the public until further notice, according to the museum.
The museum statement didn’t specify further details, citing confidentiality amid an ongoing investigation.
The overnight burglary was the work of a “perfectly professional team, fully aware of where they needed to go,” Emmanuel Skoulios, the museum’s general director, told French news broadcaster BFM TV channel on Wednesday.
“It was absolutely no coincidence that they went after these specimens,” Skoulios said.
Officially founded in 1793, the National Museum of Natural History is renowned for its diverse collections of dinosaur fossils and minerals.
France has seen a surge of museum theft in recent years.
In early September, thieves broke into the Adrien Dubouché National Museum in west-central France, stealing three Chinese porcelain pieces worth about €9.5 million, all of which are designated as “national treasures.”
Jackson Peck and Mahalia Dobson contributed.