A daylight jewel heist pulled off at the world-famous Louvre in Paris this weekend “could happen” anywhere, even at the Vatican Museums, its director Barbara Jatta said Monday.
The sort of daring robberies seen “in the Ocean’s Eleven or Ocean’s Twelve films can happen, but we hope that with our system it happens as little as possible”, she said during a meeting with the foreign press association.
The Vatican Museums, home to masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio and Giotto among others, is protected by an intricate network of sensors and video surveillance.
The security system covers the storage areas and administrative offices as well, said Jatta.
Nonetheless, some thieves may be driven by “a desire to imitate”, she said, and the security team has been told to take extra care following the Louvre robbery.
Some seven million visitors are expected to visit the Vatican Museums this year, under the watchful eye of 400 guards, according to Jatta.
The museums are made up of nearly 30 separate entities, including galleries, collections and chapels such as the Sistine Chapel featuring Michelangelo’s Last Judgement.
On Sunday, four masked thieves stole priceless jewels after climbing through a window into the Louvre.
Just minutes later they fled on scooters in a heist which has reignited the debate on the security of French museums.
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