A SPATE OF museum robberies across Europe in recent years has prompted Irish institutions to reassess their security systems as they look to safeguard their precious artefacts.

Last month, two men entered Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts, smashed a display case and made off with a 200-carat platinum and diamond necklace.

The week before, thieves stole a collection of Bronze Age gold artefacts from a museum in Villena in Spain. 

And last October, the French Crown Jewels were stolen in a daring raid on the Louvre in Paris, which involved four men using a cherry picker. 

There have been other heists in Europe recently, with Europol warning that there has been an “alarming” shift towards more aggressive methods, but the robberies in Vienna, Villena and Paris in particular have something in common: precious metals.

The prices of precious metals, especially gold and silver, have risen dramatically in recent years as people have sought to invest their money in commodities that are deemed low-risk in an unpredictable global economy. 

Silver is currently valued at €56.64 per ounce, up €21.08 since the same time last year. Gold is fetching €3863.79 per ounce, an increase of €800.12.

This goes some way toward explaining the recent robberies of artefacts made of the sought-after metals, as well as the changing nature of the heists themselves.

The French Crown Jewels at the Louvre in 2022. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“It’s a whole different mindset,” Eamonn McEneaney, former director of the Waterford Treasures museum, told The Journal. 

“The nature of the theft has changed,” he said, explaining that in the past, people would steal from museums with the aim of selling the objects as they are. 

Now, thieves are stealing gold and silver artefacts so they can melt them down, he said. 

“Gold has gone through the roof,” he said, adding that up until a few years ago, gold and especially silver did not fetch nearly as high a price and were therefore unlikely targets for thieves. 

“It hasn’t really been a big thing until now,” he said. 

He said museums are now taking the threat seriously and reassessing their security measures. 

Gold collars and neck ornaments displayed at the National Museum of Ireland Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The director of another Irish museum, who did not wish to be named to allow them to discuss security issues, told The Journal the Louvre heist “certainly cut through”.

Asked if their museum had been upgrading its security systems as a result, they said “yes”. 

“Quietly, things actually do change” after high-profile heists like the one in Paris. 

A recent re-evaluation of the museum’s silver collection also spurred the upgrades to the museum’s security, which have included new alarms and display cases for artefacts. 

Speaking about the robbery at the Louvre, they said: “If you are running a museum, you get a cold chill running down your back.”

They said museum workers take their roles as custodians of heritage very seriously, so the idea of artefacts being melted down “would break your heart”.

Although arrests were made, the French jewels remain missing.

The Tara Brooch in the National Museum of Ireland. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

McEneaney said that the primary function of any museum is to protect the objects it holds, and that institutions should keep it that way when allocating their resources.

“Upgrading security is a priority in the modern world,” he said. 

Larger museums across Ireland, which often lend out objects to regional ones, has been “very reluctant” to do so with gold items because smaller museums typically have less robust security systems, McEneaney explained.  

He understands the reticence, saying: “If you can’t secure them, I don’t think you should have them.”

The Journal contacted a number of Ireland’s national museums, which declined to comment on security matters. 

The National Museum of Ireland said it “keeps the security of its people, collections and sites under continuous review”.

“For security reasons, we do not comment publicly on specific measures, vulnerabilities, or operational arrangements,” a spokesperson for the museum said.