LIMOGES, France: Thieves snatched three porcelain works worth millions of euros and classed as national treasures in a heist at a French collection in the small hours of Thursday, the museum said.
The robbers triggered the alarm around 3:15 am (0115 GMT) at the Adrien Dubouche National Museum in the central city of Limoges, where they smashed a window to gain entry, a source close to the case, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
The suspects entered the historical gallery where they made off with “two particularly important dishes of Chinese porcelain... dating from the 14th and 15th centuries” and an 18th-century Chinese vase, all designated as “national treasures,” the museum said.
The museum valued the haul at about 9.5 million euros ($11 million) in an initial estimate to the police.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into “aggravated theft of cultural property exhibited in a French museum, committed in a group and with damage to property.”
Security guards sounded the alarm with police quickly arriving on scene but the suspects had already fled, said Limoges public prosecutor Emilie Abrantes.
“The security system worked, but it may need to be reviewed,” the city’s mayor, Emile Roger Lombertie, told reporters.
“All the world’s major museums have had items stolen at one time or another,” Lombertie added before floating a theory behind the theft.
“It is likely that collectors are giving orders to steal these items and are turning to high-level criminals,” he said.
The museum holds around 18,000 works including the largest public collection of Limoges porcelain, according to its website.
There were two major thefts at French museums in November 2024, one at the Cognacq-Jay Museum in Paris, when four people smashed a display with axes and bats in broad daylight while visitors looked on before making away with snuffboxes and other precious artefacts.
The next day, jewelry worth several million euros was taken in an armed robbery at the Hieron Museum in eastern France.