land new meaning to the idea of stealing someone ’s essence , stealer in France made off with a 16th - hundred gold relic arrest the once - beat organ of Anne of Brittany , the only woman to ever have been doubly crowned the queen of France .
Over the weekend , burglar smashed a window of the Thomas - Dobrée museum in Nantes and plagiarise the six - inch case from its video display , The Telegraphreports .
Anne was crowned queen when she was just 12 years old after marrying Charles VIII of France in 1491 . After his death in 1498 , she married Louis XII and once again rise the toilet , where she stayed until her death at years 36 . Although her body was buried at the Basilica of Saint Denis , she requested that her heart be hold open alongside her parents ’ grave in Brittany .
“ The thieves attacked our mutual heritage and stole an item of inestimable time value , " Philippe Grosvalet , president of the Loire - Atlantique department , which owns the museum , toldThe Telegraph . " Much more than a symbol , the case containing the heart of Anne of Brittany belongs to our account . ”
The gold souvenir was saved from being melted down after the French Revolution , and it has been maintain safe at the Thomas - Dobrée museum for more than 130 twelvemonth . The case curb an lettering in former French , which translates to : “ In this small vessel of pure , fine amber rests the neat marrow of any char in the world . ”
This drill of burying the center apart from the rest of the soundbox was notentirely uncommonamong European patrician in the Middle Ages . The nerve of both Richard I and Anne Boleyn were continue in lead boxes , and the hearts of 22 former Pope are stored in marble urn at Rome ’s Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi church .
It ’s also far from the only instance of relic thieving . In a slightly more off-the-wall case , fragments of thebrain of John Bosco , a 19th century Roman Catholic priest , were contained in a reliquary at his basilica in Castelnuovo , central Italy , until they were snatched by a thief in 2017 . The reliquary was at last recovered by police from the suspect ’s kitchen closet .
[ h / tThe Telegraph ]
