PARIS (AP) — A freight elevator was lifted on a crane and headed toward the Louvre museum on Tuesday — but this time it wasn’t jewelry thieves. It was workers who broke into the Paris landmark Apollo Gallery after installing security bars on the windows during a shocking robbery in October.
The world’s most visited museum is slowly coming to terms with the security lapses exposed by the theft, while investigators search for the missing Crown Jewels worth $102 million.
After the Louvre closed on Tuesday, maintenance workers wearing safety helmets and high-visibility vests installed a freight elevator to a second-floor balcony to secure new metal bars outside the now-infamous windows.
The scene echoed what happened on October 19, when a team of thieves posing as workers used a similar lift and then broke a window into the gallery. They stole tiaras, emerald earrings, sapphire necklaces and other treasures and disappeared eight minutes later.
All four suspected burglars were arrested and charged. But the jewels have yet to be found.
Samuel Lasnel of Grima-Nacelles Maintenance Elevator Company said he and his crew arrived before dawn Tuesday to perform the high-profile window-fixing job.
“We’ve worked at the Louvre — inside, outside, inside the pyramid and outside — and we’ve been here several times,” he told The Associated Press. “The Louvre knows us well.”
The Louvre did not comment publicly on Tuesday’s security operation.