A Luxembourg national who stole a statue lent by the Louvre Museum to the thermal baths of Plombières-les-Bains (Vosges), currently under construction, has been arrested and is summoned to court, France's national gendarmerie announced Thursday.

A man from Luxembourg is suspected of having stolen a statue belonging to the Louvre, but on loan for nearly 90 years to the thermal baths of Plombières-les-Bains, located about 30 km south of Epinal.

The management of the thermal baths, which have been closed for renovations since 2020, became aware of the disappearance of the bust of Heracles, which has been on loan from the Louvre since 1934, at the beginning of August.

Despite weighing 80 kg and having an estimated value of €30,000, the statue was taken "without breaking and entering," according to a statement from the national gendarmerie.

The suspected thief, a Luxembourg national in his fifties who was renovating a house in the Vosges, was arrested on Tuesday by the gendarmes. In addition to the "somewhat damaged" bust, a search revealed twelve chairs, two lithographs and a map that had also been stolen from the spa.