The Louvre’s history is crucial to what makes it the most visited museum on Earth, but art theft experts tell the Daily Beast the institution’s age was its biggest vulnerability when it was robbed in broad daylight on Sunday.

Construction on the Paris museum began in 1546, meaning security considerations that are a no-brainer for modern museums could not yet be conceived of, says Erin Thompson, an art historian and professor at New York City’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Thompson noted that the quartet of thieves who swiped priceless tiaras and brooches from the Louvre on Sunday entered and escaped using a truck-mounted lift that gave them access to a second-floor balcony. They cut through the window, smashed glass display cases holding France’s crown jewels and escaped the sam

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