Night theft at the Robécourt bell foundry
Three historic bronze bells were stolen from the former bell foundry at Robécourt in the Vosges during the night of 4–5 August. The museum, which manages the last Lorraine foundry to cast bells until 1939, reported that intruders entered around 3 a.m., took several bells and ransacked part of the site.
The stolen works included Saint-Martin, the oldest exhibition bell at 137 years and 322 kilograms; Magdalena at 250 kilograms; and Marie at 150 kilograms. Together with a smaller bell, roughly 800 kilograms of bronze were taken. A gendarmerie investigation led to the recovery of four bells, which were returned to their owners on Monday, according to Épinal deputy prosecutor Elsa Anselmo.
The recovery was not a happy ending. Michel Barret, vice-president of the association that runs the museum, said two bells had lost their handles and could no longer be swung, while two others had been smashed with sledgehammers. Refounding the works could cost tens of thousands of euros, and the museum, already closed for renovation, is not likely to reopen soon.
Why bronze bells have become a target
A metal-price motive, not a heritage motive
The thieves probably intended to melt the bells for their metal. Bell bronze is about 78% copper, and copper prices are trading near $14,000 a tonne on international markets. At that price, the stolen bronze might have brought the thieves roughly €8,000 — far less than the cultural and restoration cost now facing the museum.
Part of a wider pattern of metal theft
High copper prices usually drive cable thefts that disrupt trains and telecoms, but bell theft is not unheard of. A 450-kilogram bell from 1763 was stolen last year in Bouc-Bel-Air, and a 600-kilogram bell dating from the French Revolution disappeared in 2023 from La Haye-Pesnel. Neither has been found.
The damage goes beyond lost metal
For Robécourt, the incident changes the museum's recovery calculation. The foundry is a local heritage anchor in a village of about a hundred inhabitants. Losing the bells' handles and smashing two of them strips the objects of their function, not just their immediate metal value, and may require refounding rather than simple repair.
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