French authorities are continuing to investigate a shocking daytime robbery at the Louvre in Paris, where officials say four thieves used a truck-mounted basket lift and power tools to make off with priceless crown jewels from the world’s most-visited museum on Sunday.
The brazen heist was carried out in less than eight minutes, officials said.
“It was obviously a very experienced team that acted very, very quickly,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in a radio interview on Sunday, adding: “I am confident that we will very quickly find the perpetrators and, above all, recover the stolen goods.”
Prosecutors in Paris have opened an official investigation into what they are calling “aggravated theft by an organized gang.”
How officials say the heist unfolded
Investigators work inside the Louvre following Sunday’s robbery. (Thibault Camus/AP)
The robbery occurred on Sunday around 9:30 a.m. local time, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.
The perpetrators parked a basket lift on the side of the Louvre that faces the Seine and used it to access a balcony, where they forced open a window using an angle grinder and entered the museum’s Apollo Gallery, home to the historic collection of crown jewels.
The thieves then smashed two high-security display cases and grabbed eight objects before fleeing on two motorcycles. They were inside the museum for less than four minutes.
Police cordon off the basket lift used by the robbery suspects. (Dimtar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)
“They went straight to the display windows,” French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati said. “They knew exactly what they wanted. They were very efficient.”
According to officials, one of the suspects attempted to set fire to the truck they used to carry out the raid, but was stopped by a Louvre security officer.
Visitors were evacuated, and no one was injured, Dati said.
What was stolen?
There were eight items stolen from the cases, according to France’s minister of culture:
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A tiara, necklace and single earring from the sapphire set belonging to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense
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An emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from Empress Marie Louise
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A tiara and brooch belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III
The thieves evidently dropped the crown of Empress Eugénie — which features 1,354 diamonds, 1,136 rose-cut diamonds and 56 emeralds — during their escape. According to authorities, it was found near the scene.
“Beyond their market value, the items have inestimable heritage and historical value,” France’s interior ministry said in a statement.
A jewel-encrusted brooch, crown and tiara adorned with pearls worn by French Empress Eugenie, which were targeted by thieves during a heist at Paris’ Louvre Museum on Sunday. (Louvre Museum/Handout via Reuters)
The museum, which houses world-famous artworks, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, remained closed on Monday. Visitors who had already booked tickets will be refunded, the Louvre said.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to catch the suspects and recover the priceless artifacts.
“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” Macron said in a post on X. “We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.”
“Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this,” Macron added.
Museum robberies in France
Last month, thieves using a blow torch and grinder stole gold worth about $700,000 from the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Earlier the same month, two porcelain dishes and a vase worth about $11 million were stolen from the Adrien Dubouché museum in Limoges. And earlier this month, the Jacques Chirac Museum in Corrèze was robbed twice in a three-day span.
The Louvre, which houses more than 33,000 objects, has long been a target for thieves.
The most famous Louvre theft occurred in 1911, when the Mona Lisa was stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian decorator. It was recovered two years later in Florence, Italy, where Peruggia was arrested.
In 1976, masked thieves entered through the same window used by Sunday’s suspects to steal a 19th-century jeweled sword belonging to King Charles X. It has never been recovered.
The last high-profile robbery occurred in 1998, when a Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot painting was cut from its frame and removed. It has never been recovered, either.
