provided by Brandee Klieber

Madame Brandee Klieber teaches French here at Normal West High School, and she has used the attention of the infamous ‘Louvre heist,’ that took place on October 19 in Paris, France as a way to teach about French culture. Klieber has always been interested in the famous museum, and this event has allowed even more conversation around its artifacts.

Mrs. Brandee Klieber, a French teacher at Normal Community West High School, started her French journey at Illinois State University.

For an entire semester, she lived in France, where she immersed herself in the culture.

Although she visited many places while studying abroad, she specifically recalls a special place that she frequented several times: The Louvre.

The Louvre, a famous and long-standing museum of Paris, France, holds many fascinating artifacts that draw visitors from all over.

From her first visit, Klieber always enjoys the museum’s contents.

However, some of these artifacts Klieber has once visited, have now been stolen in the recent heist that took place during broad daylight.

Early in the morning at 9:30 a.m. on October 19, the Louvre was robbed of artifacts going all the way back to the Napoleonic era.

Seven minutes.

That’s how long it took the four thieves to steal the process artifacts, and get away on scooters.

Many of the artifacts were tampered with, but the ability to pull the heist off is shocking to many onlookers, including Klieber.

“They dropped the crown. That is wild. I just can’t imagine being the person who dropped it: ‘It’s not in here. I dropped it,’” Klieber joked.

Although the robbers were identified and taken into custody eight days later, the narrative surrounding the event has left a lasting conversation around security as well as French culture, in general.

As more and more information comes out, many people question how the robbers got away with this so easily.

“They had a good idea and they got lucky, but they executed it poorly,” Klieber added.

As the event has gained national attention, it has also offered some opportunities in the French lassroom.

In fact, Klieber has included the Louvre heist into her lessons.

With the high interest of the heist, Klieber took the opportunity to use the historical event as a way to teach students about French culture.

“So I thought that was cool. You have to learn about this cultural thing, and to understand what they were doing and why it wasn’t,” Klieber stated.

Klieber also uses the lesson to discuss how  the heist could have never happened in the United States due to its culture.