It only took seven minutes for thieves in Paris to execute a brazen daylight heist at the famed Louvre museum on Sunday morning, coming away with jewels of “inestimable value” that had once belonged to Napoleon and his empresses.
The Louvre, which is the most visited museum in the world with 8.7 million visitors in 2024 alone, was closed for the day as police investigated how intruders entered the museum at around 9:30 a.m. by forcing open a window, and escaped the scene on motorbikes. The closure was “a security measure and to preserve traces and clues for the investigation,” it said in a statement.
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The Parisian Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened an investigation into suspected “organised theft and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime”.
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The robbery at a symbol of French culture has shocked the country and dominated the news on Sunday. It drew a quick response from government ministers, who arrived at the crime scene in the hours after.
“A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum. No injuries to report,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati wrote on X. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told local French radio that the robbers utilized a disc cutter to slice through panes in order to access the jewels and that it was “manifestly a team that had done scouting.”
Nuñez and Dati both arrived at the Museum after the robbery to discuss investigations with Museum leadership and the police.
Videos at the scene by French media show tourists and museum-goers being ushered out of the museum shortly after its opening, as police cleared the area to begin their investigation.
French daily newspaper Le Parisien reported that thieves entered via the Seine-facing facade, where construction work aided their heist, as a cherry picker allowed them to access the jewel room directly on the first floor. They report there were four suspected robbers, two of whom stole priceless jewels from the Apollo Gallery, which houses what is left of the French crown jewels, most of which were stolen after the French Revolution. The gallery contains pieces owned by the Emperor Napoleon, his nephew Napoleon III, and their wives, the empresses Marie-Louise and Eugenie.
Police reported finding one jewel outside the Museum, which they later identified as the Crown of Empress Eugenie, but noted that it had been damaged.
This is a developing story and will be updated.