Thieves strike Louvre in daring jewel heist as the world’s most visited museum shuts

19/10/2025

People walk outside the Louvre museum, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Paris. (AP)

PARIS, Oct 19, (AP): Thieves entered the Louvre from the outside using a basket lift on Sunday and made away with priceless jewels, France's interior minister said, as the museum closed for the day.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called it a "major robbery.” He said on France Inter that individuals "entered from the outside using a basket lift,” stole jewels of "inestimable value,” and that the operation "lasted seven minutes.”

It was "manifestly a team that had done scouting,” he said, adding that the panes were cut "with a disc cutter.”

The Louvre said it would close "for exceptional reasons,” offering no further details on the heist. No injuries were reported.

Video from the scene showed chaotic crowds of tourists as police closed the museum’s gates and nearby roads leading past the palace complex.

French daily Le Parisien reported that the criminals entered the world’s most visited museum and former palace via the Seine-facing facade, where construction is underway. The report said they used a freight elevator to gain direct access to the targeted room in the Apollo Gallery.

After breaking windows, they reportedly stole "nine pieces from the jewellery collection of Napoleon and the Empress,” Le Parisien said. Le Parisien also reported that one of the stolen jewels was later found outside the museum. The paper said it was believed to be Empress Eugénie’s crown and that it had been broken.

The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous was 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.

In 1983, two Renaissance-era pieces of armor were stolen from the Louvre and only recovered nearly four decades later. The museum’s collection also bears the legacy of Napoleonic-era looting that continues to spark restitution debates today.

The Louvre is home to more than 33,000 works spanning antiquities, sculpture and painting - from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to European masters. Its star attractions include the Mona Lisa, as well as the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

The Galerie d’Apollon, where Sunday’s theft reportedly took place, displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels.

The museum can draw up to 30,000 visitors a day.