In recent nation-state history, the French have proven prone to surrender (except when being led by a diminutive Corsican with a Napoleon complex, but even he met his Waterloo).  Now it is getting ridiculous.  They have meekly given up any pretense of protecting their precious jewels in the Louvre by moving them to an ultra-secure vault in the depths of the Bank of France.

What’s the point?  In a sense, this is just another French surrender.  This time, instead of the Duke of Wellington or Hitler, they’re surrendering to a bunch of thugs.  (One wonders if they are disrespectful immigrants from the “banlieues” or Maghrebi.)

Rather than hide in the in the dark and dingy Paris catacombs, the jewels should shine resplendently on display for humanity.  They’re probably ill-begotten booty anyway, so don’t overreact by hoarding them in a stinky French abyss; at least let visitors marvel at them.  In addition to more alert French guards (if there are any), there are options besides burying them.

It took only a simple electric saw for the thugs to penetrate the glass cases that encased the jewels.  How about some rare earth composites to protect rare jewels?  It looks as though some can be optically active and transparent.

Apparently, aluminum oxynitride (ALON) is transparent.  Its sci-fi-type features include hardness and durability way beyond glass or other transparent ceramics.  If the jewels are truly priceless, don’t they deserve such an encasing, where their luminescence can glow rather than dim in opaque French vaults?

Another option is to take the jewels on tour.  If the French can’t exhibit them, then let someone else try.

I understand the Brits are pretty darn protective of their Crown Jewels without sacrificing the public’s access.  They are on public display at the Jewel House in the Tower of London.  The dungeons are inactive, and the Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters) may be long in the tooth, but any would-be pilferers had better not chance it.

Image: Tore Sætre via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.