Everything we know about the Louvre jewel heist

The Louvre Museum in Paris is still closed Monday as police investigate a brazen robbery involving France’s priceless crown jewels.

Thieves broke into the world’s most visited museum in broad daylight with power tools and then fled on scooters with eight extremely valuable pieces of jewelry.

Here’s what we know about the crime that stunned France.

The robbery occurred between 09:30 and 09:40 local time (08:30 and 08:40 BST) on Sunday, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

Four thieves used a vehicle-mounted mechanical elevator to gain access to the Galerie d’Apollon (Apollon Gallery) via a balcony near the Seine.

Images from the scene showed a ladder mounted on a vehicle leading to a first floor window.

Two of the thieves used a battery-operated disc cutter to cut through panes of glass and break into the museum.

They then threatened the guards who were evacuating the premises and stole items from two glass display cases.

According to a preliminary report, one in three rooms in the area of the searched museum had no surveillance cameras, according to French media.

This is a “very painful” episode for France, said Natalie Goulet, a member of the French Senate’s finance committee.

“We are all disappointed and angry,” she said, and it is “hard to understand how this could have happened so easily.”

Goulet told the BBC that the gallery’s local alarm had recently been switched off and “we will have to wait for the investigation to know whether the alarm has been deactivated”.

The French Culture Ministry said the museum’s broader alarms did indeed sound and staff followed protocol by contacting security forces and protecting visitors.

Goulet said the cut jewels would be “used in a money laundering scheme.”

“I don’t think we are dealing with amateurs. This is organized crime and they have absolutely no morals. They value jewelry not as a piece of history but just as a way to clean their dirty money,” she added.

The gang tried to set their vehicle on fire outside but were stopped by the intervention of a museum employee, the culture ministry added.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati told French news agency TF1 that footage of the theft showed the masked robbers “calmly” entering and smashing display cases containing the jewels. No one was injured in the incident.

She described the thieves as apparently “experienced” with a well-prepared plan to escape on two scooters.

Around 60 investigators are working on the case, and the public prosecutor’s office assumes that the robbers were working on behalf of a criminal organization.

The search for four suspects is ongoing and investigators are examining CCTV footage of the escape route.

The museum was still closed on Monday.

One witness described scenes of “total panic” as the museum was evacuated. Later images showed entrances closed with metal gates.

Authorities said eight items were seized, including tiaras (a jeweled headband), necklaces, earrings and brooches. All date from the 19th century and once belonged to French kings or imperial rulers.

According to the French Ministry of Culture, the stolen items were:

• A tiara and a brooch of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III
• An emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from Empress Marie Louise
• A tiara, necklace and single earring from the sapphire set that belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
• A brooch known as a “relic brooch.”

Between them, these pieces are decorated with thousands of diamonds and other precious gemstones.

Two other items, including Empress Eugénie’s crown, were found near the crime scene and had apparently been dropped during the escape. The authorities check them for damage.

Nuñez described the stolen jewels as “priceless” and “of immeasurable cultural heritage value.”

“There’s a race going on right now,” said Chris Marinello, executive director of Art Recovery International.

Crowns and tiaras can easily be broken apart and sold in small pieces.

The thieves “will not keep them intact, they will smash them, melt down the valuable metal, cut around the valuable stones and hide evidence of their crime,” Marinello said.

It would be difficult to sell these jewels intact, he said.

Earlier this year, Louvre officials asked the French government for help in restoring and renovating the museum’s aging exhibition halls and better protecting its artworks.

At the time, French President Emmanuel Macron promised that the Louvre would be redesigned as part of the New Renaissance project – the cost is expected to be between 700 and 800 million euros (££608m – £695m; $816 million – $933 million). The project includes increased security.

The theft sparked a political outcry in France. Macron called the raid “an attack on our history,” Rassemblement Nationale leader Jordan Bardella said it was an “unbearable humiliation” and Front Nationale’s Marine Le Pen called it a “wound to the French soul.”

In 1911, an Italian museum employee managed to escape with the Mona Lisa under his coat after lifting the painting – little known to the public at the time – directly from the wall of a quiet gallery.

It was recovered after two years and the perpetrator later said he was motivated by the belief that Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece belonged in Italy.

These days, fewer risks are taken with the Mona Lisa: The painting, perhaps the most famous in the museum’s collection, hangs in a high-security glass compartment.

In 1998, Le Chemin de Sèvres – a 19th century painting by Camille Corot – was stolen and never found. The incident led to a major overhaul of museum security.

There has been a recent spate of thefts in French museums.

Last month, thieves broke into the Adrien Dubouche Museum in Limoges and stole porcelain works worth a reported 9.5 million euros ($11 million / £8.25 million).

In November 2024, seven items of “great historical and cultural value” were stolen from the Cognacq-Jay Museum in the capital. Five were recovered a few days ago.

That same month, armed robbers raided the Hieron Museum in Burgundy, firing shots and making off with millions of pounds worth of 20th-century art.