[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-117284483.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tFrench museums can\u2019t seem to catch a break. <\/p>\n
\n\tBetween Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, the Mus\u00e9e du Pr\u00e9sident Jacques Chirac in the central French town of Sarran was robbed for the third time in less than a year, a French public prosecutor told local media outlet Ici Limousin<\/em>. Thieves reportedly broke a window, allowing them to enter the museum via the front door, and authorities were alerted by an alarm system around 4 a.m. Though no details were given about what was stolen or their estimated value, the small museum houses some 5,000 diplomatic gifts, such as paintings, medals, and jewelry given to the former French president, along with other French leaders.<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2011, the Chirac museum was robbed of a diamond-encrusted, golden falcon that had been offered to Chirac by Saudi Arabia, estimated to be worth some \u20ac150,000 ($173,000). It was never found, and it was just the beginning of the museum\u2019s troubles. On October 12, 2025, armed and masked thieves broke into the museum and made off with cash from the register and at least one watch. Four suspects were quickly arrested in that case. Shockingly, only a day or so later, on the night of October 13, 2025, the very same museum was robbed again, this time of several watches and jewelry, estimated to be worth over \u20ac1 million. Following those incidents, the museum reinforced its security systems this past spring, notably with the installation of more cameras.<\/p>\n \n\tThe October break-ins at the museum happened less than a week before the Louvre was robbed of the country\u2019s crown jewels on October 19th<\/sup>, in a brazen heist that led to the eventual ousting of Louvre president Laurence des Cars. It also forced the French Ministry of Culture into belated action. In July, after a string of headline-making museum thefts, the ministry announced the implementation of a national museum and monument security plan, while recognizing a worrisome pattern of \u201cnew modes of operation\u201d being used to strike the country\u2019s museums and monuments.<\/p>\n \n\tFounded in 2000 in the rural Corr\u00e8ze department of the Limousin region in central France, where Chirac built his political career, the Mus\u00e9e du Pr\u00e9sident Jacques Chirac includes objects given to the former president during his two terms, from 1995 to 2007. In 2024, it added a new \u201cPresidential Gallery\u201d displaying about 40 gifts to other French presidents, from Charles de Gaulle to current leader Emmanuel Macron. Displayed items include an \u201chonorary\u201d necklace from Nepal, bronze panther statues from Benin, and an ornately carved alabaster box from India.<\/p>\n \n\tAt the time of writing, the museum website states that it is temporarily closed and asks for visitors\u2019 understanding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/jacques-chirac-presidential-museum-in-france-robbed-again-1234794495\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-117284483.jpg?w=1024″] French museums can\u2019t seem to catch a break. Between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, the Mus\u00e9e du Pr\u00e9sident Jacques Chirac in the central French town of Sarran was robbed for the third time in less than a year, a French public prosecutor told local media outlet Ici Limousin. Thieves reportedly broke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2082608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2082608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2082608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2082608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2082608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}