Valuable jewels stolen from France’s Louvre in daring heist

Speaking to France Inter radio on Sunday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said several individuals entered the Louvre Museum that morning during what he called a “major robbery” that lasted minutes. According to the former Paris police chief, “the team clearly did their homework” as the windows were cut out with a power tool.

Nunez said “jewelry of priceless historical value” was stolen. “But I can’t tell you more at this time.”

He added: “We are working hard at the present time to find the perpetrators,” while confirming that there were no casualties.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati later told TF1 that the gang broke into the Galerie d’Apollon – a lavish room on the first floor of the Petite Galerie that has housed the French crown jewels since 1887 – and a piece of jewelry was recovered during the escape. The French newspaper Le Parisien reported that several pieces of jewelry belonging to Napoleon and Empress Eugenie had been stolen.

The Louvre Museum is a global symbol of French culture and one of the most heavily guarded places in the capital. Despite the museum’s security measures, the museum has been subjected to break-ins on occasion, most famously in 1911 when Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was stolen. Other attempts targeted works including Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix, as well as The Wave by Gustave Courbet.

Following the robbery, the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the opening of an investigation into “organized robbery and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime.”

According to the Interior Minister, three or four robbers arrived near the museum on powerful TMAX motorcycles on Sunday morning around 9:30 am. Nunez said the perpetrators fled the scene and are being sought.

The incident is likely to lead to increased scrutiny of the vulnerability of French museums and cultural institutions to organized crime. Just last month, thieves broke into the Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing rare gold nuggets worth an estimated 600,000 euros ($702,600) as bullion prices soared, according to French newspaper reports.

Earlier this year, French president Emmanuel Macron unveiled an ambitious 10-year “renaissance” project to renovate the Louvre, which included plans to secure the museum buildings.

“The weakness of museums is a long-term problem,” Dati said. “These museums must adapt to new forms of crime.”