Thieves wearing balaclavas broke into Paris's Louvre on Sunday, smashed an upstairs window with a crane, then stole priceless items from the French Crown Jewels area before fleeing on motorcycles, officials said.
The robbery is likely to raise awkward questions about security at the museum, where officials have already sounded the alarm about a lack of investment in the world-famous site, home to works of art such as Mona Lisa. In 2024, the Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors.
“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we value because it is our history,” President Emmanuel Macron said on social media X. “We will return the works and those responsible will be brought to justice.”
The thieves attacked around 9:30 a.m. local time, after the museum had already opened its doors to the public, and entered a wing of the Galerie d'Apollon, Paris prosecutor Laura Becquo said on French television.
According to her, the robbery, which lasted six to seven minutes, was carried out by four men who were unarmed but threatened the guards with angle grinders.
In total, the criminals attacked nine objects, eight of which were actually stolen. The ninth of them, the crown of Napoleon III's wife, Empress Eugenie, was lost by the thieves during their escape, Becquo said.
“It’s worth tens of millions of euros – this crown alone. And this, in my opinion, is not the most important item,” Alexandre Guichello, president of the Drouot auction house, told Reuters.
The French Ministry of Culture said the following jewelry was missing:
- Tiara from the set of jewelry of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense.
- Necklace from the sapphire set of jewelry of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense.
- Earring, part of a pair from the sapphire set of jewelry for Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortensia.
- Emerald necklace from Marie-Louise's set.
- A pair of emerald earrings from the Marie Louise set.
- A brooch known as a reliquary brooch.
- Tiara of Empress Eugenie.
- Large bodice knot (brooch) of Empress Eugenie.
Becquo said it remains a mystery why thieves did not steal the Regent diamond, which is in the Galleria d'Apollo and is valued by Sotheby's at more than US$60 million.
One of the thieves was wearing a yellow hi-vis vest, which investigators later recovered, she said, adding that the robbers tried but failed to set fire to a crane mounted on the back of a small truck as they fled.
Experts are checking
Interior Minister Laurent Nunes said the investigation had been assigned to a specialized police unit that has a high success rate in solving high-profile robberies.
Investigators are keeping all leads open, Beccuo said. But she said it was likely the heist was either ordered by a collector, in which case there was a chance the items would be returned in good condition, or carried out by thieves interested only in valuable jewelry and precious metals. According to her, foreign intervention was not among the main hypotheses.
“We are looking at the hypothesis of organized crime,” Becquau said, adding that they could be thieves working for a buyer or seeking access to jewelry that could be used to launder criminal proceeds.
“Today, anything can be associated with drug trafficking, given the significant amounts of money generated from drug trafficking,” she said.
Security Questions
The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, said on X that it would remain closed for the day for “exceptional reasons.”
Joan and Jim Carpenter, visiting Paris from Santa Cruz, California, said they were escorted out of the gallery just as they were about to see Mona Lisa.
“Well, when you rob the Louvre, it's a big event for all of France, so I knew something was wrong because they combed the whole museum,” Joan Carpenter said.
Mona LisaThe work of artist Leonardo da Vinci was stolen from the museum in 1911 in one of the most daring art thefts in history. The former employee who committed the robbery was eventually caught, and two years later the painting was returned to the museum.
Earlier this year, Louvre officials asked the French government for urgent help to restore and renovate the museum's outdated exhibition spaces and better protect its countless works of art.
Culture Minister Rachida Dati said the issue of museum security is not new.
“For 40 years little attention has been paid to the security of these major museums, and two years ago the president of the Louvre requested a security review from the prefect of police. Why? Because museums have to adapt to new forms of crime,” she said. “Today it’s organized crime—professionals.”
