PARIS — The four thieves arrived on the south side of the Louvre on Sunday morning at 9:30 and pulled a truck up on the sidewalk, right next to the museum walls. They posed as workers, wearing yellow vests and setting out traffic cones.

巴黎——上周日早上9:30，四名窃贼来到卢浮宫南侧，将一辆卡车停在人行道上，紧贴博物馆外墙。他们伪装成工人，身穿黄色反光背心，并且摆放了交通锥。

To anyone strolling along the banks of the Seine, just across the road, it might not have been immediately apparent that the setup was a ruse and that a daring robbery was underway. Workers are a common sight around the Louvre, an ancient, sprawling former palace, whose basic upkeep and renovations make it a constantly transforming construction site.

对于在塞纳河对岸路边散步的行人来说，这一幕可能不会立刻让他们起疑心——毕竟作为一座古老且不断扩建的昔日王宫，卢浮宫的维修与翻新工程司空见惯，工人随处可见，施工现场几乎无时无刻不在变化。

But inside the museum, where visitors were already snaking their way through more than 8 miles of exhibition space, the drama that was unfolding would soon become clear. Two of the thieves used an electric ladder attached to their truck to reach the Apollo Gallery, with its treasury of priceless crown jewels, then used power tools to break through a window.

但在博物馆内，游客已开始在超过13公里的展览空间中蜿蜒穿行，很快人们将意识到一场大戏正在上演。两名窃贼利用卡车上的电动梯登上阿波罗画廊——那里陈列着无价的王冠珠宝——随后用电动工具砸破窗户。

An alarm was immediately issued to the Louvre’s security command center, which contacted the police, according to Laurent Nuñez, the interior minister, speaking to LCI television Monday.

据内政部长洛朗·努涅斯周一接受LCI电视台采访时透露，警报立即传至卢浮宫安保指挥中心，该中心迅速通知警方。

The police were on their way within minutes, he said, but when they arrived, the masked intruders had already jumped on two motor scooters and taken off. In their haste, the intruders dropped a crown featuring 1,354 diamonds, 1,136 rose-cut diamonds and 56 emeralds. They also left behind a yellow vest and a bottle of fluid that they had used to douse part of the truck as they tried to set it on fire, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

他说，警方几分钟内即赶往现场，但当他们抵达时，蒙面闯入者已骑上两辆摩托车逃离。匆忙中，他们掉落了一顶镶有1354颗钻石、1136颗玫瑰式切割钻石和56颗祖母绿的王冠。据巴黎检察官办公室消息，他们还遗落了一件黄色背心和一瓶用来浇在卡车上试图纵火的液体。

But they made off with eight precious pieces of jewelry, including a royal sapphire tiara and a royal emerald necklace with its matching earrings. The pieces were not insured, which is not uncommon for state collections because of the prohibitive costs, according to France’s Culture Ministry.

但他们成功携走八件珍贵珠宝，包括一顶皇家蓝宝石冠冕和一套皇家祖母绿项链配耳环。据法国文化部表示，这些藏品未投保——这在国家收藏中并不罕见，因为保费高得令人望而却步。

The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said on French radio Tuesday that the items had been valued at 88 million euros (around $102.1 million) by a Louvre curator. But she said they would likely garner much less if they were disassembled and melted down.

巴黎检察官劳尔·贝科周二在法国电台表示，一位卢浮宫策展人估计这些失窃物品总值8800万欧元（约合1.021亿美元）。但她补充说，若被拆解熔化，其价值可能会大幅缩水。

The robbery — the stuff of movies — has raised significant questions about whether one of the world’s most famous museums could have been better protected from a crime some politicians have suggested was both a tragedy and a national embarrassment.

这场有着电影般情节的盗窃案引发了严重质疑：作为全球最著名的博物馆之一，是否本可更好地防范这场被一些政界人士称为“悲剧”和“国耻”的犯罪？

For the moment, officials say they are working on the basis that the culprits are most likely members of a criminal gang, of a kind that experts say would probably be more interested in breaking down the stolen jewels for resale than for their artistic value. Officials are also zeroing in on how the museum’s alarm systems work.

目前，当局初步判断犯罪嫌疑人很可能是某个犯罪团伙成员。专家表示，此类团伙更倾向于拆解珠宝转卖获利，而非看重其艺术价值。当局同时正深入调查博物馆的警报系统运作情况。

Nuñez said that police patrols, which focus mostly on the Louvre’s crowded central entrance, were not near the thieves’ truck. And while the museum is surrounded by cameras, he said there were not enough officers to continuously monitor the feeds.

努涅斯表示，警方巡逻主要集中在卢浮宫人潮涌动的中央入口附近，未能覆盖窃贼的卡车位置。虽然博物馆周边布满摄像头，但他指出，缺乏足够人手持续监控画面。

Vernon Rapley, a museum security consultant, said that institutions adjacent to streets they do not control, like the Louvre, rely more on quick police reaction.

博物馆安保顾问弗农·拉普利表示，像卢浮宫这样毗邻无法控制的公共街道的机构，更依赖警方的快速反应。

Labor unions at the Louvre said they had warned that continual renovations, repair work and scaffolding for fundraising events done on or around the museum made it hard for employees to spot suspicious behavior.

卢浮宫工会表示，他们早已警告：博物馆内及周边持续的翻修工程、维修作业以及为筹款活动搭建的脚手架，让员工难以辨别可疑迹象。

“The more we have exterior people working around the Louvre, the harder it is to differentiate who should be there,” said Julien Dunoyer, a leader with the Louvre unit of the SUD union, who has worked as a security agent there for 21 years.

“越多外部人员在卢浮宫周边作业，就越难分辨哪些人应该出现在这里，”SUD工会卢浮宫分部负责人朱利安·杜努瓦耶说。他在此担任安保人员已有21年。

On Monday, parts of an unfinished report on the museum by France’s national auditor that had been ordered before the theft were leaked to French news outlets. The auditor found that 75% of the Louvre’s Richelieu wing had not been covered by video surveillance and that a third of the rooms in the Denon wing had no surveillance cameras. That wing is where the burglars struck, although officials said the refurbished gallery they targeted did have cameras.

周一，一份案发前法国国家审计署受命撰写的未完成报告片段被泄露给了法国媒体。报告指出，卢浮宫黎塞留翼75%的区域未覆盖监控摄像，德农翼三分之一的展厅没有监控摄像头。窃贼闯入的正是德农翼，尽管官方称他们针对的已翻新展厅确实装有摄像头。

The report also criticized delays in updating the museum’s security system.

报告还批评博物馆安保系统升级严重滞后。

The auditor confirmed the existence of the report to The New York Times but declined to share it.

审计署向《纽约时报》确认该报告存在，但拒绝提供全文。

The Louvre has not publicly addressed the findings. But in an email to staff members after the burglary that a union leader shared with the Times, the head of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, said they could count on her “determination in this hardship.”

卢浮宫尚未公开回应审计发现。但在盗窃案后发给员工的一封由工会领袖分享给《纽约时报》的邮件中，馆长劳伦斯·德卡尔表示，员工可以信赖她“在这一艰难时刻的决心”。

“When I took office, I warned of the need to strengthen our security architecture,” des Cars said in the email. She added that police had carried out “detailed studies” at her request and that the recommendations would be put in place. She gave no details. (Many museums are wary of sharing details of security plans, even with some staff, for fear of leaks.)

德卡尔在邮件中写道：“我上任之初就警告过必须加强安保建设。”她补充说，应其要求，警方已进行“详细研究”，相关建议将得以落实。她未透露细节。（许多博物馆出于泄密风险考虑，甚至对部分员工也不愿披露安保计划。）

Still, labor unions at the museum said technical and staffing issues, particularly among security guards, had gone largely unaddressed for years.

尽管如此，博物馆工会表示，技术与人力问题——尤其是安保人员短缺——多年来基本未获解决。

“It’s the entire surveillance system of the museum that is obsolete today,” said Alexis Fritche, general secretary of the culture section of CFDT, a national labor union. “There is a lack of staff to obviously deal with surveillance, but there is also a lack of staff for evacuation in case of difficulty.”

“如今整个博物馆的监控系统已彻底过时，”全国工会CFDT文化部门总书记亚历克西斯·弗里切表示，“显然缺乏监控人力，紧急疏散所需人员也严重不足。”

2020年的卢浮宫阿波罗厅。从博物馆被盗的皇家祖母绿项链及其配套耳环。

Security staff members at the Louvre were reduced to 856 agents in 2023 from 994 in 2014, according to Dunoyer.

据杜努瓦耶透露，卢浮宫安保人员从2014年的994人削减至2023年的856人。

But it is not clear whether more agents in the Apollo Gallery or even more security cameras would have prevented the theft.

但目前尚不清楚，即使阿波罗画廊有更多安保或监控摄像头，是否真能阻止盗窃。

“Once they are inside, it’s already too late,” Dunoyer said.

“一旦他们进入室内，一切为时已晚，”杜努瓦耶说。

When there is an intrusion, the museum’s protocol is to evacuate rooms and usher visitors to safety, “definitely not put yourself in danger’s way by going toward the intruders,” said Sarrah Abdelhedi, an SUD leader who has worked at the Louvre in security for 17 years. That was what guards did once the intruders had entered the gilded hall, according to the Culture Ministry.

博物馆的侵入应对流程是疏散展厅、引导游客至安全区域，“绝不应冒生命危险靠近闯入者，”SUD工会领导人萨拉·阿卜杜勒赫迪说。她在卢浮宫安保岗位工作17年。据文化部称，安保人员在闯入者进入金碧辉煌的大厅后正是如此执行的。

Still, union representatives said a lack of security agents may have sent a signal of vulnerability to potential criminals.

尽管如此，工会代表表示，安保人力不足可能已向潜在犯罪分子传递了“有机可乘”的信号。

“These are weaknesses that can be spotted by people who are looking for opportunities to carry out operations like this,” Dunoyer said.

“这些都是有机会实施此类行动的人能发现的弱点，”杜努瓦耶说。

Once outside, security guards chased away the thieves who were attempting to light their truck on fire, Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister, told French television crews Monday.

法国文化部长拉奇达·达蒂周一告诉法国电视新闻组，安保人员在室外驱赶了试图对卡车纵火的窃贼。

Security officials at the museum, who are not armed, were so shaken by the brazen heist that they refused to work Monday until they heard from the museum’s director what reinforcements would be put in place, according to Abdelhedi, the union leader.

工会领袖阿卜杜勒赫迪透露，这起大胆盗窃令未配武器的博物馆安保人员受到惊吓，周一拒绝上班，直至馆长明确说明将采取何种增援措施。

A spokesperson for the Louvre said the closing was “to allow museum management to discuss the situation with staff.”

卢浮宫发言人表示，闭馆是为了“让管理层与员工讨论当前的情况”。

周一，卢浮宫外的警察。周一，在闭馆的卢浮宫外仍有游客聚集。

Dati said that at least three security audits since 2022 had been factored into plans to overhaul the Louvre, which were announced by President Emmanuel Macron this year. She said security control rooms were being upgraded and a new central control room was being created.

达蒂表示，今年由马克龙总统宣布的卢浮宫整体改造计划，考虑了自2022年以来的至少三次安保审计。她说，安保控制室正在升级，一个新的中央控制室也在建设中。