thieves

PARIS — In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the world’s most-visited museum, thieves rode a basket lift to the Louvre, forced a window into the Galerie d’Apollon — while tourists pressed shoulder-to-shoulder in the corridors — smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.

It was among the highest-profile museum thefts in recent memory and comes as Louvre employees have complained of worker and security understaffing.

One object was later found outside the museum, according to Culture Minister Rachida Dati. French daily Le Parisien reported it was the emerald-studded crown of Napoleon III’s wife Empress Eugénie — gold, diamonds and sculpted eagles — recovered just beyond the walls, broken.

The theft unfolded just 270 yards from the “Mona Lisa,” in what Dati described as “a four-minute operation.” No one was hurt.

Images from the scene showed confused tourists being steered out of the glass pyramid and adjoining courtyards as officers closed nearby streets along the Seine.

Also visible was a lift braced to the Seine-facing facade near a construction zone — an extraordinary vulnerability at a palace-museum.

A museum already under strain

Around 9:30 a.m., several intruders forced a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the vitrines, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the crew entered from outside using a basket lift.

The choice of target compounded the shock. The vaulted Galerie d’Apollon in the Denon wing, capped by a ceiling painted for Louis XIV, displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels. The thieves are believed to have approached via the riverfront facade, where construction is underway, used a freight elevator to reach the hall, took nine pieces from a 23-item collection linked to Napoleon and the Empress, and made off on motorbikes, according to Le Parisien.

Daylight robberies during public hours are rare. Pulling one off inside the Louvre — with visitors present — ranks among Europe’s most audacious since Dresden’s Green Vault museum in 2019, and the most serious in France in more than a decade.

It also collides with a deeper tension the Louvre has struggled to resolve: swelling crowds and stretched staff. The museum delayed opening during a June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing. Unions say mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, freight routes and visitor flows meet.

Security around marquee works remains tight — the Mona Lisa is behind bulletproof glass in a bespoke, climate-controlled case.

It’s unclear whether staffing levels played any role in Sunday’s breach.

The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered two years later in Florence.

Today the former royal palace holds a roll call of civilization: Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa”; the armless serenity of the “Venus de Milo”; the “Winged Victory” of Samothrace, wind-lashed on the Daru staircase; the Code of Hammurabi’s carved laws; Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People”; Géricault’s “The Raft of the Medusa.” More than 33,000 works — from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to Europe’s masters — draw a daily tide of up to 30,000 visitors even as investigators now begin to sweep those gilded corridors for clues.

Politics at the door

The heist spilled instantly into politics. Far-right leader Jordan Bardella used it to attack President Emmanuel Macron, weakened at home and facing a fractured Parliament.

“The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture,” Bardella wrote on X. “This robbery, which allowed thieves to steal jewels from the French Crown, is an unbearable humiliation for our country. How far will the decay of the state go?”

The criticism lands as Macron touts a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan — about $800 million to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the “Mona Lisa” a dedicated gallery by 2031. For workers on the floor, the relief has felt slower than the pressure.

What we know — and don’t

Forensic teams are examining the site of the crime and adjoining access points while a full inventory is taken, authorities said. Officials have described the haul as being of “inestimable” historical value.

Recovery may prove difficult. “It’s unlikely these jewels will ever be seen again,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds. “Professional crews often break down and re-cut large, recognizable stones to evade detection, effectively erasing their provenance.”

The Louvre closed for the rest of Sunday as police sealed gates, cleared courtyards and shut nearby streets along the Seine.

Key questions still unanswered are how many people took part in the theft and whether they had inside assistance, authorities said. According to French media, there were four perpetrators: two dressed as construction workers in yellow safety vests on the lift, and two each on a scooter.

Investigators are reviewing closed-circuit TV from the Denon wing and the riverfront, inspecting the basket lift used to reach the gallery and interviewing staffers who were on site when the museum opened, authorities said.

Adamson writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Oct. 19 (UPI) — A group of thieves broke into the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning and stole priceless jewels before fleeing on motorcycles, the famed institution confirmed to UPI.

A representative for the Louvre said that several people broke in through a window in the Apollo Gallery, which houses many of France’s royal jewels, around 9:30 a.m. local time after the museum had already opened its doors to the public.

Inside, the thieves stole jewelry from their display cases. French media later reported that they made off with seven jewels owned by Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais.

“An investigation has begun, and a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled,” museum officials said in a statement. “Beyond their market value, these items have inestimable heritage and historical value.”

After the theft, the museum was evacuated “without incident” and no injuries were reported among the public, museum staff or law enforcement, the representative said.

The museum shared on social media that it would be closed Sunday for “exceptional reasons.”

“At the Louvre Museum this morning to commend the exemplary commitment of the staff mobilized following the theft,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati shared on social media after visiting the site.

“Respect for their responsiveness and professionalism. Together with President Emmanuel Macron, we extend our sincere thanks to them.”

Dati told French TV channel TF1 on Sunday that one of the jewels was later found and that the entire heist lasted only four minutes. She called the thieves “professionals.”

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Sunday that “everything is being done” to find the thieves.

“The mobilization of investigators will be total, under the authority of the Parquet de Paris,” Nuñez said. The Parquet de Paris is the public prosecution office in the French capital. “Attacking the Louvre is attacking our history and our heritage.”

The news comes just days after the Louvre announced that two 18th-century snuff boxes that were stolen during a violent armed robbery in 2024 while they were on loan to the Cognacq-Jay Museum have been found and returned.

BBC

Police helicopter

National Museum Wales

Bronze Age treasures

What is St Fagans museum?

Getty Images

‘Draw attention’

What do local people and visitors think?

THIS is the shocking moment sneaky jewel thieves distract a driver at a petrol station and steal £2 million from his car boot.

An organised crime group targeted the jewellery salesman as he was travelling from Sussex to Kent last year.

6

6

6

Three of the group have now been jailed after they followed the man to a petrol station in Wrotham, Kent, before puncturing one of his tyres in January 2024.

The victim had been working in Brighton selling jewellery to several businesses and was carrying precious items worth around £2.25 million.

The CCTV footage shows the moment the thieves start following the salesman.

He was tracked by Edgar Ardila-Ruiz, Monica Diaz and Edward Florez-Ortiz and closely tailed his vehicle back to Kent.

When the man stopped at a petrol station in Wrotham, Florez-Ortiz punctured one of his tyres.

The man drove away but was forced to turn back and headed to an air pressure machine after noticing his tyre was flat.

While at the machine, the footage shows Monica Diaz distract the salesman by attempting to engage him in conversation.

Meanwhile, Ardila-Ruiz can be seen at the rear of the car snatching a bag of jewellery from the boot.

The CCTV footage recovered from the garage showed the suspects fleeing in a silver Toyota Corolla.

All three thieves were part of a gang responsible for other offences across the country including areas in London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.

Ruiz and Diaz were later arrested on February 11 after attempting to steal from another travelling salesman near Bolton, Lancashire.

The victim had alerted police after he noticed a black BMW was following him.

Local officers ran checks showing Ruiz was wanted for the theft in Wrotham while Diaz was also recognised from the petrol station CCTV.

They both pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court after they were charged with conspiracy to steal, and theft from a motor vehicle.

6

6

Ruiz and Diaz, both of no fixed address, were sentenced to three years and six months in prison.

Florez-Ortiz, from Islington, London, was identified as a third suspect and separately convicted at Chelmsford Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to theft and criminal damage.

He was jailed for six years and will undergo future extradition proceedings after he was sentenced to three years for another jewellery theft in Belgium in 2021.

All three will also now be the subject of a financial investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act to claw back any criminal gains they may have made.

Detective Constable Leo Graham said: “Our investigation uncovered a wealth of evidence showing how all three offenders initially followed the victim on foot, before tailing his car.

“They waited patiently for the perfect opportunity to prey upon him and a later examination of his car led to the recovery of a metal item which had been inserted into the tyre by Florez-Ortiz.

“Ardila-Ruiz and Diaz were thankfully caught just weeks later, after following another salesman hundreds of miles away from Kent.

“These sentences are welcome, as it is clear they were part of a bigger network of organised criminality targeting victims throughout the country.”

6