Two prominent historians have argued that the recent break-in at the Louvre, in which jewels linked to the French crown were stolen, is being exploited by conservatives and the far right to promote a narrative of national decline. Writing in an opinion piece, Patrick Boucheron and Pierre Singaravélou say the burglary was probably carried out by “a couple of chancers with a crowbar” and is not a sign of civilisational collapse.
The authors draw a contrast with the success of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which briefly showed France functioning effectively, and compare the Louvre incident to the 2019 Notre-Dame fire, which they say was a construction accident rather than a symbol of de-Christianisation. Both events, they argue, reveal chronic underfunding of France’s cultural heritage, not national decay.
Boucheron and Singaravélou, both historians, point out that most of the stolen items were not actually crown jewels in the traditional sense. Since the reign of Francis I, the joyaux de la couronne were a state guarantee fund, designed to back public loans rather than adorn royalty. The pieces taken from the Louvre belonged to the liste civile, the personal holdings of royal family members, and many have a turbulent history of theft, recovery, and auction since the Revolution.
The historians accuse conservative politicians of hypocrisy, noting that those who lament young people’s “amnesia” about the past have also cut history lessons in secondary schools. They warn that the heated reaction to the heist exposes a political bloc spanning the right and far right, united by disdain for the revolutionary legacy of equality and judicial independence. They cite the imprisonment of former president Nicolas Sarkozy as a trigger for this assault, and claim the far right has not been so close to power since 1940.
Finally, they caution that President Emmanuel Macron’s quasi-monarchical exercise of authority is inflaming the political crisis and paving the way for a counter-revolution. The most valuable treasure, they conclude, is the democratic inheritance of 1789, which needs protection against those who would use a glittering distraction to undermine it.
