Thieves Execute Jewelry Heist at the Louvre Museum in Broad Daylight
Targeting “priceless” crowned jewels in a seven minute heist in the first half an hour of the museum opening.
Summary
- The Louvre Museum in Paris was hit by a brazen daylight jewelry heist that lasted approximately seven minutes
- Thieves used a mechanized lift and angle grinders to access the Galerie d’Apollon and steal eight pieces of “priceless” Napoleonic-era jewels
- The museum was immediately closed for investigation, and the stolen items, including emerald and sapphire sets, are considered to be of inestimable historical value
The world’s most visited museum was the scene of a brazen jewelry heist this Sunday, as professional thieves executed a minutes-long operation at the Louvre Museum in Paris. As if straight out of a scene from a film, the robbery, which may have been more of a recession indicator than anything else, points towards the daylight strike, which occurred shortly after the museum opened, targeted priceless objects from the French Crown Jewels, forcing the Louvre to close immediately to preserve the crime scene.
The robbery unfolded with cinematic precision in the Galerie d’Apollon. Authorities confirmed that a team of three or four thieves, some disguised as construction workers, used a mechanized lift positioned outside the Seine-facing facade to access a first-floor window. Using tools like angle grinders, the criminals breached the glass displays and stole eight pieces of historical jewelry—including emerald and sapphire sets once worn by Empress Marie-Louise and Queen Marie-Amélie. The New York Times reported that two burglars entered through the second-floor balcony with their faces concealed. They rode in on a truck-mounted electric ladder, not an uncommon sight in Paris, before using grinders too break the window and setting off alarms. In seven brazezn minutes, the thieves stole the crown jewels by smashing two cases, sounding eevn more alarms. They later left the same way they entered, down the ladder and onto a road that shouldered the Seine to meet two other people on motor scooters as their getaway.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the theft as a “major, highly organized operation” that was over in roughly seven minutes. Though a crown belonging to Empress Eugénie was recovered, damaged, outside the premises, the stolen items are considered to be of “inestimable heritage value” beyond their market price. The incident has raised immediate questions about security at the historic landmark and marks one of the most audacious museum thefts in recent history.
