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Entering the planet's most popular art institution in the middle of the day, taking eight pieces of priceless historical gems and vanishing into Paris traffic on simple scooters may seem like the most audacious of crimes, executed for global fame and subsequent Hollywood film treatments.

Experts who observe trends in global cultural theft, however, see Sunday morning’s robbery at the Louvre as something more prosaic: the most recent in a series of quick-hit thefts focused more on the monetary worth of valuable gems or metals than the artifacts’ significance, perpetuating a trend that has emerged over the last decade in Europe, the UK and the US. The venue, they propose, would have been of secondary concern to the thieves.

“You may ask why criminals who want to steal valuable jewellery are entering a world-famous museum rather than a Cartier store,” stated Christopher A Marinello. “The answer is simple: it’s because these days a Cartier store is more secure.”

A series of aggressive retail store thefts indicate that many outlets have strengthened their security in recent years, with armed guards on their locations and wares no longer shown overnight. Cultural institutions, on the other hand, look vulnerable, partly because of the inherent reason of being public-facing institutions in historic buildings, and also the current economic climate in many developed nations.

“After the pandemic, governments across the world have reduced spending on law enforcement and the arts funding,” noted Marinello. “With criminals entering the Louvre, it demonstrates how at risk our museums have become. This is a difficult time to be a museum.”

The theft of the objects – featuring necklaces made up of eight sapphires and hundreds of gems, the tiara of Empress Eugénie featuring nearly 2,000 diamonds and a hugely valuable diadem once owned by a royal that the thieves left by the roadside on their way out – has inevitably been compared with the 1911 theft of the famous painting from the Louvre, performed by the worker Vincenzo Peruggia.

Better comparisons may be the 2019 theft of valuables from a German institution worth over millions, the theft of a multi-million pound valuable object from Blenheim Palace the that year, the 2017 heist of a large gold coin from a European museum or even a series of thefts of collector items from American institutions.

“It's a clear trend here,” explained Marinello. “Break in, take items, and dismantle them as rapidly as possible.”

If the items were to remain intact, experts say, the thieves would find it hard to find a buyer. “There’s no way to trade something as immediately identifiable as the Louvre’s jewels on the legal marketplace”, commented Lynda Albertson of the a relevant organization.

“They are too well-known, especially given the cultural authorities has released images of the items. Even a individual buyer or an sales venue would want to see documentation establishing legal possession before touching such remarkable pieces.”

In the past, institutions were often hesitant to announce publicly about the disappearance of well-known art pieces and would remain quiet out of embarrassment. Now, as cultural robberies are more widely publicised, the keeping and sale of stolen art is risky business for any lawbreaker.

“Taking a Picasso, it has to stay complete or it becomes valueless, and you have to conceive of a plan to conceal it, maybe by passing it around difficult criminal actors,” noted Marinello. “There's ongoing risk to the danger of an accomplice informing authorities to collect a reward.”

For comparable factors, an art detective said it was highly improbable that the theft had been commissioned. “Commissioned theft is something from Hollywood movies,” he said. “Nobody would touch this. It's global news and in all the media. If you acquire these, if you get caught, you go to jail. You cannot show it to your acquaintances, you cannot bequeath it to your family.”

Modifying taken items by melting down or reshaping does lower the worth. When it comes to gems, it also comes with significant danger because contemporary cutting techniques give gems a bigger and brighter appearance, and older-style stones would either draw unwanted attention or barter the price down for a concealment.

Importantly, however, dismantling or re-cutting eliminates the evidence of the theft. “My guess is that the Louvre thieves will try to bring the stolen goods to places with diamond expertise like a country, another nation or even as close as a city, and locate an expert to remove the stones,” said Marinello.

The robbery at the Louvre has already brought up concerns about security measures at the institution, with a leaked official review expected to be released next month criticising “significant” and “ongoing” slow progress in updating equipment and noting that surveillance were missing in many rooms. But specialists say showing precious items in historic buildings with a steady stream of guests comes with dangers that are not possible to eliminate completely.

“Older structures are more difficult to protect,” said an art crime professor. “They often have large accessible windows that allows for criminals to get away, and there may be building protection statutes in place that mean you are unable to install them with proper bulletproof glass.”

The most solid security systems for structures should be designed “like a fortress”, noted a security advisor. “It should include several layers to repel intruders.”

Modern buildings are equipped with advanced external CCTV cameras or integrated vibration sensors that raise alarm about a broken glass in real time, but historic institutions may be reluctant to alter their exteriors. Laser scanners can be difficult to install to decorated surfaces. Motion and sound detectors may also have to be disabled during the daytime as hordes of visitors walk through a museum.

The schedule of the robbery, which occurred between morning hours in Paris, was common of modern robberies, Stürmann said. “There’s a good reason why robberies tend to happen at either start or end of day. Frequently when guards change their shifts and before the museum is full of visitors who effectively act as additional security staff.”

Technological progress may have introduced new gadgets that can notify more quickly and effectively, but it has also provided thieves new tools with which to bypass security measures. In the city, the robbers reached the museum’s upper level with a mobile equipment and cut through a glass pane with a electric tool.

An author said the discussion in the country about the historic structure had mostly focused on crowd control in the past decade, and not as much on security.

The institution has an in-house team of about fifty full-time firefighters, but their purpose is mostly to protect the artworks from blazes and water damage. “There isn't a rapid-response unit,” Sciolino said. “In the end, the safety of the Louvre all comes down to government support and money, and currently France lacks sufficient money.”