Louvre Museum Closed After Dramatic Daylight Heist
Thieves made off with “priceless” jewels just half an hour after the Parisian museum opened to the public.
Thieves stole “priceless” jewels from a gallery in the Louvre Museum in Paris in broad daylight on Sunday, October 19.
Laurent Nuñez, France’s interior minister, told France Inter that burglars broke into the Galerie d’Apollon around 9:30am, half an hour after the museum opened to the public, and made off with the pieces in a span of just seven minutes before fleeing on motorcycles.
The Louvre’s d’Apollon gallery is known for its opulent displays of France’s crown jewels. Among the eight stolen items, according to a list from the Ministry of Culture shared with Hyperallergic, are several pieces from an early 19th-century set belonging to Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, including a sapphire and diamond tiara. A pair of emerald earrings and matching necklace, gifted by Napoleon to Marie-Louise of Austria on the occasion of their marriage, were also taken.
“Beyond their market value, these items have inestimable heritage and historical value,” a spokesperson for the Louvre said in a statement to Hyperallergic. “All possible measures are being taken to recover the stolen items.”
One of the jewels targeted by the thieves — the diamond-encrusted crown of Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III — was later recovered outside the museum. However, the burglars managed to make off with Eugénie's pearl and diamond tiara.
The Louvre spokesperson said that no injuries were reported, and that the French government has enlisted a specialized police force to investigate the robbery. The Louvre remained closed on Sunday “as a security measure and to preserve evidence for the investigation."
The thieves allegedly used a mechanical ladder known as a basket lift to access the second-floor gallery, forced a window, and smashed the display cases in what Nuñez described as an expert operation executed by professionals. Five security officers were present in the gallery at the time, the Ministry of Culture's statement said.
“We saw some footage, they don't target people, they enter calmly in four minutes, smash display cases, take their loot, and leave. No violence, very professional," Culture Minister Rachida Dati told the French news channel TF1.
Tourists in line to enter the museum this morning told the BBC that security guards quickly ushered them out shortly after the incident.
The Louvre, which is the world’s most visited museum, drawing approximately 30,000 visitors per day, is no stranger to art heists. In 1911, one of its own employees notoriously made off with the Mona Lisa. He was arrested years later and the painting was returned. More recently, in 1998, a painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was snatched directly from a wall. It has never been found.
Today's incident comes just months after a mass work stoppage shuttered the museum for several hours this summer, with striking employees citing poor working conditions, overcrowding, and staff shortages at the iconic institution.
Earlier this year, President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a decade-long renovation project that would revitalize the Louvre's outdated infrastructure and create a dedicated gallery for the Mona Lisa, the museum's top tourist draw. The overhaul plan also includes a "new security master plan," the Ministry of Culture said today, including enhanced safety measures and perimeter detection technology.
