Theft of 4.5 million euros of jewelry from the Lalique museum: four people indicted

At dawn on July 5, 2026, 27 pieces of jewelry were stolen worth 4.5 million euros from the Lalique museum in Wingen-sur-Moder in Bas-Rhin. During a burglary which lasted only a few minutes, three hooded individuals broke an emergency exit then a fire door, before breaking six display cases containing jewelry, in the main exhibition room of the museum. Friday, November 6, the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction of Nancy announced that four people were indicted in the investigation into these thefts.

Judicial information had been entrusted to an investigating judge from this specialized jurisdiction of Nancy and the investigations have since then been carried out by the Strasbourg research section and the central office for the fight against trafficking in cultural property. Investigators made a “connection” with a theft committed a few days earlier, on July 1 around four o'clock, at the Montans archaeological center in Tarn. During this burglary, 37 Gallo-Roman gold coins were stolen, for damage estimated at 120,000 euros.

The Albi prosecutor then relinquished responsibility in favor of the public prosecutor's office of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction of Nancy and the facts were joined to the procedure relating to the theft of the Lalique museum. At the end of four months of investigations, "an operation carried out by 90 gendarmes and police officers" led to the arrest of "six people suspected of having participated in the thefts, their preparation or the concealment of the loot", indicated the JIRS.

Two people placed in pre-trial detention

At the end of their police custody, four people, aged 23 to 51 and from several regions of France, were presented to the investigating judge and indicted. Two were placed in pre-trial detention and the other two under judicial supervision, announced the JIRS, which specified that “no further information will be communicated at this stage” in order to “preserve the ongoing investigations”.

After several months of closure following the burglary, the Lalique museum, located approximately 60 kilometers northwest of Strasbourg, will open its doors again on November 28. “We can't wait to be able to welcome our visitors back, but we first had to work on repairing and securing the place to be able to prepare for a peaceful reopening,” commented Véronique Brumm Schaich, the director of this establishment dedicated to Art Nouveau and Art Deco jeweler-glassmaker René Lalique, in a press release released in October.

At the beginning of August, the museum opened an online fundraiser in order to “finance additional work to secure the site, which is not covered by insurance”. Opened in 2011, the Lalique museum is located near the factory of the same name, installed since 1921 on the Alsatian slope of the Vosges. It exhibits over 900 m2 "more than 650 exceptional works which allow us to retrace the career of René Lalique and his successors", through "a wide panorama of creations, from Art Nouveau jewelry to current crystal through Art Deco glass", indicates the establishment's website.

After a series of burglaries in French museums, including the resounding Louvre heist, which made global headlines in October 2025, the Ministry of Culture recommended in July temporarily removing certain objects on display from the display cases, as part of a plan aimed at strengthening the security of establishments. Under these recommendations, the director of the Lalique museum explained that it will "unfortunately" not be able to "present jewelry" when it reopens at the end of November.