Louvre Museum Closed After Daring Daylight Jewel Heist

The Louvre Museum in Paris is temporarily closed after masked thieves stole priceless jewels in a brazen seven-minute heist yesterday morning, raising questions about security at one of the world’s most visited cultural landmarks.

According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, two bandits utilized a furniture lift to access the Galerie d’Apollon, home to the French crown jewels, through a second-floor window shortly after the museum opened on Sunday. Authorities are searching for four male suspects. The thieves smashed display cases, making off with eight items described by a Louvre spokesperson as being of “inestimable cultural and historical value,” before fleeing on high-powered scooters. Two pieces of jewelry – including the crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III – were later recovered near the museum.

This is not the first time the Louvre has been targeted; the museum has a long history of thefts, most famously the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa. That incident, while ultimately resolved with the painting’s recovery, catapulted the artwork to global fame. The Louvre, originally built as a military fortress in the 12th century, opened as a public museum in 1793, embodying the ideals of the French Revolution and now houses approximately 35,000 works of art. Recent concerns about overcrowding and understaffing, highlighted in a leaked letter from museum president-director Laurence des Cars earlier this year, may have contributed to the vulnerability. You can learn more about the history of museum security breaches at National Geographic.

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin acknowledged the security failure, stating on France Inter radio today, “What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels.” An investigation is underway, and officials have pledged to review and enhance security protocols at the museum.