Europe's small museums brace for a 'Louvre effect' after thieves snatched Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse works in three minutes

A wave of copycat raids has swept through European museums since last year's Louvre heist, with experts warning that underfunded smaller institutions are now prime targets. The Parma theft was executed by a four-man gang, one of whom used a fire extinguisher to blind a security guard while the others escaped within three minutes. Researcher Marc Balcells calls the trend the 'Louvre effect' — the premise being that if the world's most visited museum could be robbed, anywhere can.

A French Culture Ministry survey found only one in four cultural institutions had any emergency plan, and nearly half had no CCTV.

Works by Antonello da Messina vanished from a Sicilian museum in August; two Renoirs were stolen from Cagnes-sur-Mer the following month.

Spain was also hit: thieves took hundreds of historic gold coins from museums in Badajoz and Albacete and seized a Bronze Age treasure in Villena.