FRANCE, Paris, Robbery at the Louve, Oct 19, 2025

[Inthedetails]

The Louvre in Paris, the world’s most-visited museum, has suddenly closed for the day after the French culture minister said there had a been a robbery...

At least one person had entered the museum, a member of her team told Agence France-Presse, without adding anything about any possible theft.

Louvre closed after robbery, French culture minister says

Rachida Dati announces robbery had taken place at world’s most-visited museum

www.theguardian.com

No info yet on WHAT might have been stolen.

 

[Inthedetails]

Details are sketchy but French media are reporting that three masked men broke into the Louvre shortly after opening time this morning.

They’re said to have used a goods lift to get access to the Apollo Gallery, on the Seine River side of the museum. (my note: I think a "goods lift" is a forklift?) Oops, I think it's actually a freight elevator.)

This ornate room is where what remains of France’s crown jewels are kept.

The thieves are said to have been carrying small chainsaws.

They made off with nine items of jewellery and they escaped on a motor-scooter. The value of the haul is being evaluated.

Louvre museum in Paris closed after robbery, French minister says - live updates

France's Culture Minister Rachida Dati said the incident happened as the museum opened this morning.

www.bbc.com

Pink Panther strikes again??

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Wow, talk about brazen.

 

[Inthedetails]

Among the items snatched were a necklace, a brooch, and a tiara — the exact worth of which are still being calculated.

One of the precious items, believed to be a crown belonging to Napolean’s wife, Empress Eugenie, was discovered damaged outside the gallery, according to Le Parisien.

Thieves break into Louvre, swipe priceless jewels belonging to Napoleon in brazen daylight heist

Professional thieves broke into the Louvre Sunday — stealing priceless jewels that belonged to Emperor Napoleon in a brazen daylight heist in Paris.

nypost.com

 

[Inthedetails]

Among the items snatched were a necklace, a brooch, and a tiara — the exact worth of which are still being calculated.

One of the precious items, believed to be a crown belonging to Napolean’s wife, Empress Eugenie, was discovered damaged outside the gallery, according to Le Parisien.

Thieves break into Louvre, swipe priceless jewels belonging to Napoleon in brazen daylight heist

Professional thieves broke into the Louvre Sunday — stealing priceless jewels that belonged to Emperor Napoleon in a brazen daylight heist in Paris.

nypost.com

Additionally, from same link:

It comes just weeks after thieves stole several gold nuggets from Paris’ Natural History Museum.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1979849183721849108

 

[bestill]

This one is going to be crazy to follow. Think of the cameras all over the city and they escaped by scooter - NBC report - Thieves steal priceless jewels from the Louvre in daring Paris heist

 

[Skigh]

This one is going to be crazy to follow. Think of the cameras all over the city and they escaped by scooter - NBC report - Thieves steal priceless jewels from the Louvre in daring Paris heist

Netflix will already be planning the film!

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1979927229619458225

"Police surround the tourist attraction on Sunday
after it was reported jewellery previously belonging to Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte was swiped from the museum.

Among the treasures was the Eugénie Crown,
found tossed below a window of the Louvre and broken into pieces."

 

[CalliopeMuse]

The crown of Empress Josephine (David Luzzo 2009)

By David Luzzo (2009) via Wikipedia

Object History
1855: commissioned by Empress Eugénie
1876: restituted to Empress Eugénie by French State
1920: inherited by Princess Marie-Clotilde Napoléon, Countess de Witt from Empress Eugénie
1988: acquired by Musée du Louvre
_____________________________

I assume that they dropped it and didn't want to stop to retrieve it, but who knows. They're able to restore these items pretty well these days, if the museum has detail images/design layout on file.

 

[bestill]

The crown of Empress Josephine (David Luzzo 2009)

By David Luzzo (2009) via Wikipedia

Object History
1855: commissioned by Empress Eugénie
1876: restituted to Empress Eugénie by French State
1920: inherited by Princess Marie-Clotilde Napoléon, Countess de Witt from Empress Eugénie
1988: acquired by Musée du Louvre
_____________________________

I assume that they dropped it and didn't want to stop to retrieve it, but who knows. They're able to restore these items pretty well these days, if the museum has detail images/design layout on file.

What a beautiful crown.

 

[CalliopeMuse]

The Crown Jewels display case, circa 2004
Michael Reeve, 2004 via Wikipedia

Note: This is not necessarily how it looked this morning. So far, I haven't seen any reference to the Louis XV crown (on the far right) being stolen.

Wikipedia

Object Description
Crown Jewels of France, on display at the Louvre with the diadem and Crown of Empress Eugenie to the left, the set of Queen Marie Amélie in the centre and the crown of Louis XV to the right with the diadem of the Duchess of Angoulème.
_________________________

Many of the 'crown' or other royal jewels of the French monarchy are no longer around, whether sold by the Republic, destroyed or stolen and broken up/stashed unknown in a vault somewhere. This set is mostly what's left of them now.

One of the most famous blue diamonds in the world, the Hope Diamond, now in the Smithsonian's gem collection in Washington DC, has been more or less proven to having been re-cut a few centuries back from a French royal gem called the 'French Blue'. It eventually made its way to the US in the 20th Century and famed jeweler Harry Winston, who gifted it to the Smithsonian.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1979960466425225240

"The group targeted a wing of the Louvre by the Seine River, where construction work was ongoing, and extended a freight elevator resembling a ladder from the back of a flat-bed truck before propping it up against the wall of the gallery.

After scurrying to the top of the ladder, they then used an angle grinder to pierce through the museum's external window, before climbing into the Salle 705 exhibition room.

the whirlwind heist, the group hurriedly prised open two display cases and crammed away nine pieces of the 23-item Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte collection.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said two of the nine pieces stolen were recovered soon after the gang fled the scene, after apparently being dropped and damaged.

The group extended a freight elevator resembling a ladder from the back of a flat-bed truck before propping it up against the wall of the gallery.

Police transported the elevator used by robbers to enter the Louvre away from the scene."

 

[ChatteringBirds]

So they broke into the Louvre and had at least a few minutes inside, maybe up to 6 or 7, without being detected/approached by guards in the museum. That is interesting to me. I know it's a huge museum.

 

[bestill]

Seems amazing to me that they could scale the ladder to the building, break into the window, enter the museum, break into the area where the jewels were being kept and no one was outside waiting on them when they came out. Are there no alarm systems and outside guards? I would think that a museum with that broad collection of rare jewels and art would have a state of the art security system. These thieves knew the vulnerable areas. I bet we will also have more photos of them, someone arranged for the truck and ladder, the scooters...Crazy!

 

[Dotta]

A bit of History...

"The most daring Louvre thefts.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1979943654178377760

It is the most high profile theft since the Mona Lisa was taken in 1911.

Vincenzo Peruggia caused international uproar after he stole Leonardo's da Vinci's iconic work.

Le Chemin de Sevres (The Sevres Road), by 19th Century artist Camille Corot, was plucked off the wall in 1998.

A burglary in May 2010 saw works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse disappear from the same gallery."

 

[Inthedetails]

So they broke into the Louvre and had at least a few minutes inside, maybe up to 6 or 7, without being detected/approached by guards in the museum. That is interesting to me. I know it's a huge museum.

Seems like there was some construction going on within the museum and the theives used that as their cover.

 

[Sundog]

Seems amazing to me that they could scale the ladder to the building, break into the window, enter the museum, break into the area where the jewels were being kept and no one was outside waiting on them when they came out. Are there no alarm systems and outside guards? I would think that a museum with that broad collection of rare jewels and art would have a state of the art security system. These thieves knew the vulnerable areas. I bet we will also have more photos of them, someone arranged for the truck and ladder, the scooters...Crazy!

I, too, am stunned that no alarms were going off when they cut through the window and/or entered the room and walked around. Especially in this particular wing of the museum. I remember getting lost in the sarcophagi section of the museum many years ago as the museum was closing and realized that if I didn't find my way out, I might be spending the night there. I had hoped that their security would find me if that was the case. Now I am thinking, maybe not.