Louvre Museum Transfers Precious Jewels to Bank of France Following $102 Million Heist

The Bank of France is situated merely 500 metres from the Louvre Museum. (File)

Paris:

According to French radio station RTL, the Louvre Museum has relocated some of its most valuable jewels to the Bank of France following a brazen daylight robbery last week that highlighted security vulnerabilities at the renowned institution.

RTL reported, citing anonymous sources, that the transfer of certain precious items from the museum's Apollo gallery, which houses the French crown jewels, was conducted on Friday under confidential police escort.

The Bank of France, which maintains the country's gold reserves in a substantial underground vault 27 metres (88 feet) below street level, is located just 500 metres from the Louvre on the Right Bank of the River Seine.

When contacted by Reuters for comment, neither the Louvre nor the Bank of France provided an immediate response.

On October 19, thieves absconded with eight valuable artifacts estimated to be worth $102 million from the Louvre's collection. The heist exposed significant security deficiencies as the perpetrators broke into the world's most visited museum by using a crane to shatter an upstairs window during regular opening hours before escaping on motorcycles.

The news of this robbery resonated globally, prompting introspection in France with some viewing the incident as a national embarrassment.