【Wingen-sur-M】In the Latest Brazen Heist, Jewelry and Artworks Worth $5 Million Were Stolen From a Famed French Designer’s Museum

In the Latest Brazen Heist, Jewelry and Artworks Worth $5 Million Were Stolen From a Famed French Designer’s Museum
A trio of burglars stole 27 pieces, including a dragonfly pendant, from the Lalique Museum in eastern France
Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent | July 10, 2026 1:57 p.m.

Months after burglars broke into the Louvre and stole royal crown jewels, another brazen art theft rocked France.
Early on Sunday, three masked thieves armed with sledgehammers forced their way into the Lalique Museum in the French village of Wingen-sur-Moder near the country’s eastern border, reports Kelly Crow for the Wall Street Journal. In just 11 minutes, the trio broke into six display cases and made out with 27 pieces of jewelry and art, escaping into the morning.
The town’s mayor expressed anger about the burglary to local newspaper Les Dernieres Nouvelles d’Alsace, saying that the break-in triggered alarms but not a quick response from the security team, reports Le Monde and Agence France-Presse.
Officials estimate that the value of the stolen artworks amounts to roughly $5 million.

The museum is known for glasswork, crystals and perfume bottles but especially for jewelry, a specialty of artist René Lalique. He worked in the late 19th century as an apprentice for craftsman and jeweler Louis Aucoc, then as an independent designer for Jacta, Cartier and Boucheron before setting up his own shop in Paris. He frequently won contests and collaborations with the most influential celebrities of the day. His desire to “create something that had never been seen before” earned him the moniker of “inventor of modern jewelry” from French glassmaker Émile Gallé, according to the Journal of Antiques & Collectibles.
A cockerel diadem, made from gold, enamel, horn and amethyst between 1897 and 1898, is one of Lalique’s many celebrated creations.

Often, artifacts stolen from museums that are not retrieved are melted down and sold for their material value. But the losses this week are particularly devastating, museum officials say, because each piece is much greater than the sum of its parts.

The centerpiece of the heist is Femme libellule ailes ouvertes, or Dragonfly Woman With Open Wings, a pendant that Lalique crafted from gold, diamond and enamel between 1898 and 1900. It was the first piece acquired in preparation for the museum.

Did you know? Art Nouveau: Lalique’s designs contributed to the sinuous, organic Art Nouveau movement at the turn of the 20th century.
Other items taken in the heist include brooches, necklaces, pendants, bracelets, a bust, a perfume bottle, a comb, a hatpin, a belt buckle and a face-à-main, which is a pair of handheld glasses.
The museum has remained closed since Sunday as officials continue their investigation.

Meanwhile, the theft adds momentum to the growing call for improved investments in infrastructure and security within France’s museums. In May, the country’s parliament published a report about the growing “museum crisis,” the Art Newspaper’s Vincent Noce reports. Of 616 museums surveyed by the Ministry of Culture in 2024, only 54 percent had a video surveillance system, and 64 percent had formalized security procedures, per the report.