Tangent Alert: How They Did This -- In Under Four Minutes -- Is Fascinating, To Me... Tragic, For The Art History Of The Planet -- But... Fascinating, Nonetheless.

Honestly, it reminds me. . . as Banksy (repeatedly) taught us all. . . that some people know the price of everything -- but the value. . . of nothing. [Almost certainly, the jewels have been sold off, and are being re-cut, into smaller, more moveable individuals. In that regard -- we are unlikely to ever see the original French exhibit restored -- except as a series of glass and crystal replicas.]

And that is profoundly sad, for the world of art -- and Sixteenth Century French History. But the planning is beyond amazing (it clearly must have been, in part, an inside job -- of sorts). Here's just a smidge:

. . .The world’s most famous and most-visited museum started as a medieval military fortress, then became a palace. It took a revolution to turn it into a museum. Royals and rulers renovated it more than 20 times, satisfying their vanity but leaving behind an incoherent structure that sits on 25 different levels and stretches for half a mile. It exhibits over 30,000 of its 500,000 artworks in more than 400 rooms.

And it is this convoluted history and identity that make the Louvre a structure that is so difficult to monitor, oversee and protect.

“The Louvre is a palace that doesn’t have the logic of a museum,” said Gérard Araud, the president of the Society of Friends of the Louvre. “It is a universe unto itself. . . .”

The brazen and seemingly effortless robbery Sunday morning of eight pieces from the collection of crown jewels at the museum has wounded its leadership and put a spotlight on the Louvre’s security protocols, which have been tested over the years by break-ins and thefts. . . .

[I am eternally grateful, to have had the good fortune of being able to show my own kids. . . all of these original permanent exhibits, intact -- on multiple times / and on multiple trips -- while they were still in middle-, and high- school.]

And to be certain, the security guards have long rightfully complained about low wages, poor working / security conditions and over-crowding with thoughtless tourist phalanxes. This is NOT in any manner, their fault (unless one or more were in -- on the heist crew itself). The building itself is. . . largely unprotectible, from any sensible perspective. Onward, just the same.

नमस्ते