Dali artwork worth millions stolen in French museum heist

A multimillion-euro artwork featuring a massive bronze cover designed by Salvador Dali has been stolen from a museum in central France. It is the latest in a string of high-profile thefts targeting the country’s cultural institutions.

Thieves took the artwork from the Centre of Contemporary Art in Issoire overnight to Monday. Prosecutors described it as an “exceptional and unique” work of “great value” and opened a criminal investigation.

The stolen work is Joseph Foret’s ‘Livre de l’Apocalypse’ (The Book of the Apocalypse), a monumental 210kg volume produced between 1958 and 1961 with contributions from prominent figures in 20th-century art and literature, including Dali, Jean Cocteau, Bernard Buffet, and Jean Giono.

Its roughly 150kg bronze casing, designed by Dali, is decorated with gold, precious stones, and seashells. The one-of-a-kind book has been described as among the world’s heaviest and most expensive, with its value estimated at several million euros.

The Issoire theft is the latest in a string of high-profile robberies to hit French museums. In September, thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer in southeastern France and grabbed four paintings from the walls. Two were abandoned in the museum garden as the thieves fled, while two remain missing. The four were initially valued at €9 million ($10.1 million), with the missing pair later valued at €4.2 million.

In July, three masked thieves raided the Lalique Museum in northeastern France, escaping with 27 valuable pieces worth €4.5 million in just 11 minutes. Despite the museum receiving “special attention” after the Louvre robbery, its security company reportedly failed to alert gendarmes when the alarms went off, leaving a cleaner to call police.

The wave of robberies follows a spectacular Louvre heist in October 2025, when thieves stole eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels worth around €88 million in broad daylight. Hours later, nearly 2,000 prized coins were reportedly stolen from the Denis Diderot House of Enlightenment in northeastern France. A month earlier, thieves had broken into the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and made off with 6 kg of rare gold nuggets, with the loss later estimated at around €1.5 million.

The string of thefts triggered a national scandal over museum security. A parliamentary inquiry released in May found widespread shortcomings, pointing to aging infrastructure, staff shortages and inadequate surveillance. Only 23% of French museums had an emergency and risk-prevention plan in 2024, while just 54% had video surveillance, according to the report.

Following the Louvre robbery, the Lalique Museum was designated a “sensitive site” and placed under “special attention.” Yet a source close to the investigation said the additional protection was “not sufficient.” The government unveiled a new 33-point museum-security plan in July, but did not specify how the measures would be funded.

France has also cut heritage spending while ramping up military expenditures. The country’s 2026 heritage budget was reduced by €106 million, or 8%, while the Louvre lost €5 million in funding. By contrast, the defense budget rose by €6.7 billion to €68.4 billion as the government accelerates what it calls France’s “rearmament.”