The Confounding Louvre Heist

Photo credits: CNN

The morning of 19 October 2025 began as any other at the Louvre, but instead, it became the setting for one of the most audacious museum heists France had seen in decades.

At around 9:30 a.m., just half an hour after opening, a small crew dressed as construction workers rolled a furniture lift up to the museum’s south-facing balcony. Their yellow-orange vests blended easily with the constant maintenance activity around the building. From below, nothing seemed unusual.

Two of the thieves, faces hidden behind balaclavas, rode the lift to the Balcon de Charles IX. With practiced speed, they sliced through a window using a disc cutter. Alarms wailed, but the men kept moving. Inside the Galerie d’Apollon, home to the remnants of the French Crown Jewels, they smashed into two display cases and gathered nine pieces of extraordinary history, including emeralds, sapphires, tiaras once worn by emperors and queens.

As they escaped, they dropped the Crown of Empress Eugénie, dragging it through a gap too small and damaging it in the process. Their haul shrank to eight items, still valued at €88 million. Just under eight minutes after arriving, they were gone, speeding away on scooters along the Seine, eventually reaching the A6 autoroute.

What followed was confusion, anger, and political fallout. The museum shut down immediately. Interpol added the jewels to its global stolen-art database the next day. French President Emmanuel Macron called the heist “an attack on a heritage that we cherish,” while critics accused the government of negligence. Reports soon revealed the CCTV in the Apollo Gallery was aimed the wrong way, only 39% of the museum’s rooms had working cameras, and the surveillance system password had been “Louvre.”

The investigation expanded rapidly. DNA found in a helmet and tools left behind led to the first arrests on 25 October, including one suspect intercepted at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he tried to flee the country. By the end of the month, seven had been detained, though several were released. Four now face charges, while one suspect remains missing. The jewels themselves have not been found.

The Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, admitted flaws in security and even offered her resignation, which the Ministry of Culture declined. Precious artifacts were quietly transferred to the Bank of France for safekeeping, and the museum was pressed into accelerating long-delayed security upgrades.

Ultimately, the heist was a reminder of how fragile even the most iconic cultural treasures can be.

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