Thieves carried out a daring seven-minute robbery at the Louvre Museum on Sunday, stealing “priceless” jewelry shortly after it opened for the day.
The well-planned heist involved the robbers using a ladder attached to a truck to reach the Apollo Gallery, one of the museum’s most beautiful rooms, where they took jewels from the French Crown collection dating back to Napoleon’s time.
Two secure display cases were broken into, and eight out of nine stolen items are still missing, including a tiara and necklace once worn by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, according to France’s culture ministry.
The thieves broke a window using an angle grinder and stole jewelry that had great sentimental and historical value, said French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.
Four unarmed thieves were involved but used the angle grinders to threaten the guards, said Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
Investigators have not ruled out the possibility of foreign involvement, though all leads are still being explored. One item, the crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, was dropped or left behind and damaged during the theft.
The crown, made of gold with 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, is considered priceless, according to prosecutors.
The interior ministry said the stolen pieces have enormous cultural and historical importance, beyond their financial worth.
President Emmanuel Macron said that all efforts are being made to catch the suspects. “The theft at the Louvre is an attack on our shared history,” he posted on X. “We will recover the pieces, and the thieves will face justice.”
The culture ministry listed the stolen items: a single sapphire earring from Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, an emerald necklace and matching earrings from Empress Marie-Louise, a reliquary brooch, and the tiara and corsage bow brooch of Empress Eugénie.
A security officer stopped an attempt to set fire to the getaway truck after the heist.
Paris police have opened an investigation for “aggravated theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.”
The robbery lasted only seven minutes, and the suspects escaped on motorcycles, Nuñez told France Inter radio. He said it was clear that the place had been watched before and that the robbers were very skilled and acted fast.
He also said he was confident the police would soon catch those responsible and recover the stolen items.
According to the Le Parisien newspaper, police found two angle grinders, a blowtorch, gasoline, gloves, a walkie-talkie, a blanket, and a crown at the scene. They also found a yellow vest, which the robbers used to pretend they were workers, a short distance away, likely dropped as they fled.
Video from the area showed police inspecting an abandoned furniture lift near a corner of the Louvre, with its ladder reaching up to a broken window by a balcony.
A tour guide told CNN that while showing tourists around the Apollo Room, he heard a loud “stomping” noise on the window, and then security guards started shouting for everyone to leave.
The location of the Louvre heist
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