Thieves strike Louvre in brazen jewel heist as the world’s most visited museum shutters
PARIS, France — In a brazen, seven-minute strike, thieves used a basket lift to reach the Louvre on Sunday morning and, as tourists were already inside, forced a window, smashed display cases, and fled with jewels of “inestimable value,” France’s Interior Minister said.
The world’s most visited museum closed for the day as police sealed gates and ushered visitors out during the investigation.
“A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati wrote on X. The museum cited “exceptional reasons” for the closure. No injuries were reported.
Around 9:30 a.m., several intruders forced open a window, stole jewels from vitrines, and escaped on two-wheelers, according to the Interior Ministry. It said forensic work is underway and a precise inventory of the stolen objects is being compiled, adding that the items have “inestimable” historical value.
Dati and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez were on site with museum leadership. Video from the scene showed confused tourists being ushered out of the glass pyramid and surrounding courtyards as officers shut the iron gates and closed nearby streets along the Seine.
Nuñez called it a “major robbery,” saying the intruders entered from the outside using a basket lift. He told France Inter radio that the heist took seven minutes, and the thieves used a disc cutter to slice through the panes. He added, “It was manifestly a team that had done scouting.”
### The Heist and the Stolen Jewels
The theft occurred in the Galerie d’Apollon, a vaulted hall in the Denon wing that displays part of the French Crown Jewels beneath a ceiling painted by King Louis XIV’s court artist, according to the ministry. After breaking windows, the thieves reportedly took nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress.
One stolen jewel was later found outside the museum, believed to be Empress Eugénie’s crown, though it was broken.
### Security and Staffing at the Louvre in the Spotlight
Security around marquee works remains tight. For example, the Mona Lisa is protected by bulletproof glass and a custom high-tech display system as part of broader anti-theft measures across the museum.
However, staffing and protection have been flashpoints at the Louvre. The museum delayed opening during a June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing. Unions have warned that mass tourism strains security and visitor management. It is not yet clear whether staffing levels played any role in Sunday’s theft.
In January, President Emmanuel Macron announced a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan, allocating roughly 700 million euros to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding, and give Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece its own dedicated gallery by 2031. Workers say relief has been slow to reach the floor.
### Other European Museums Have Been Robbed
The theft, happening less than half an hour after doors opened, echoes other recent European museum raids.
– In 2019, thieves smashed vitrines in Dresden’s Green Vault and carried off diamond-studded royal jewels worth hundreds of millions of euros.
– In 2017, burglars at Berlin’s Bode Museum stole a 100-kilogram (220-pound) solid-gold coin.
– In 2010, a lone intruder slipped into Paris’s Museum of Modern Art and escaped with five paintings, including a Picasso.
The Louvre itself has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat. It was recovered two years later in Florence—an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait the world’s best-known artwork.
### The Louvre: A Treasure Trove of Art and History
Home to more than 33,000 works spanning antiquities, sculpture, and painting from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the classical world to European masters, the Louvre’s star attractions include the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The museum can draw up to 30,000 visitors a day.
https://abc7.com/post/thieves-steal-several-pieces-french-crown-jewels-collection-inside-infamous-louvre-paris-france/18038109/
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