Thieves steal the Crown Jewels in 4 minutes from the Louvre Museum

PARIS (AP) — In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the world’s most visited museum, thieves rode a basket that lifted the facade of the Louvre, smashed a window, smashed display cabinets and made off with Napoleon’s priceless jewels, officials said.

The theft, in broad daylight about 30 minutes after opening, and with visitors already inside, was among the most notable museum thefts in living memory, and came at a time when employees complained of crowding and a lack of staff, leading to a strain on security.

The theft took place only 250 meters from the Mona Lisa, in what Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as a professional “operation that took four minutes.”

French authorities said that one of the pieces, the emerald-studded imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie, which contained more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum. It was reportedly recovered broken.

Pictures from the scene showed confused tourists being escorted from the Glass Pyramid and nearby squares while officers closed nearby streets along the Seine.

The elevator — which officials say was brought in by thieves and later removed — stood opposite the façade facing Nin, their entry way, and, observers said, a revealing weakness: the possibility of such machines being brought into the palace museum unchecked.

The museum is already under pressure

At approximately 9:30 a.m., several intruders broke into one of the windows, cut the panels using a disc cutter, and went straight to the glass display cases, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the crew entered from outside using a basket elevator through the façade overlooking the river to reach the hall containing the 23-piece royal collection.

Their target was the Gilded Apollon Gallery, where the Crown’s diamonds, including the Regent, Sancy and Hortensia, were displayed.

Nunez said the thieves smashed two of the display cases and fled on motorcycles. No one was hurt. Alarms brought Louvre agents into the room, forcing the intruders to flee, but the robbery had already been completed.

Eight items were seized, according to officials: a ruby ​​diadem, a necklace and one earring from a matching set associated with the 19th-century French queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching collection of Empress Marie Louise, second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte; Holy relics brooch. Empress Eugenie’s diadem; and its large corsage-bow brooch – a precious nineteenth-century imperial collection.

“It is a major robbery,” Nunez said, noting that security measures at the Louvre Museum have been strengthened in recent years and will be strengthened further as part of the museum’s upcoming comprehensive reform plan. Officials said the security upgrades include new-generation cameras, perimeter detection and a new security control room. But critics say these measures come too late.

The Louvre Museum closed its doors for the rest of the day on Sunday to begin a forensic investigation, as police closed the gates, evacuated the courtyards and closed nearby streets along the Seine.

Robberies in broad daylight during general business hours are rare. Doing one inside the Louvre with visitors is among the most daring in Europe in modern history, at least since the Green Vault in Dresden in 2019.

It also clashes with a deeper tension that the Louvre has struggled to resolve: growing crowds and an overworked staff. The museum’s opening was delayed during a staff strike in June due to overcrowding and chronic staff shortages. Unions say mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, shipping routes and visitor flows meet.

Security around the landmark works remains tight – the Mona Lisa is housed behind bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled case – but Sunday’s theft also underscored that protections are not uniformly strong across the museum’s more than 33,000 objects.

The theft represents a new embarrassment for a museum already under scrutiny.

“How can they take the elevator to the window and take the jewelry in the middle of the day?” said Magali Connell, a French teacher from near Lyon. “It is unbelievable that a museum of this fame could have such obvious security vulnerabilities.”

The Louvre Museum has a long history of thefts and attempted burglaries. The most famous of these occurred in 1911, when the Mona Lisa disappeared from its frame, was stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered two years later in Florence. Another notorious incident occurred in 1956, when a visitor threw a rock at her world-famous smile, chipping the paint near her left elbow and accelerating the move to display the work behind protective glass.

Today the former royal palace bears the call of civilization: Leonardo’s Mona Lisa; Serenity Without Arms by Venus de Milo; The winged victory of Samothrace, whipped by the winds on the stairs of Darrow; Hammurabi’s carved code of laws; Delacroix’s freedom leads the people; Gericault’s Raft of Medusa. The artifacts – from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to European masters – attract a daily stream of 30,000 visitors, even as investigators now begin searching those gilded corridors for clues.

Politics is at the doorstep

The theft immediately spilled over into politics. Far-right leader Jordan Bardella used it to attack President Emmanuel Macron, who is weakened at home and faces a divided parliament.

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

The criticism comes as Macron promotes his decade-long “New Louvre Renaissance” plan — some 700 million euros ($760 million) to modernize infrastructure, ease congestion and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031. For workers on the floor, the relief has been slower than the pressure.

What we know – and don’t know

Forensic teams are examining the crime scene and nearby access points while a full inventory is conducted, authorities said. Officials described the quantity as having “priceless” historical value.

Recovery can be difficult. “It is unlikely that these jewels will be seen again,” said Tobias Kormend, managing director of 77 Diamonds. “Professional crews often break and recut large, recognizable stones to avoid detection, effectively erasing their source.”

The main questions that remain unanswered are how many people participated in the robbery and whether they had inside help, authorities said. According to French media, there were four perpetrators: two dressed as construction workers and wearing yellow safety vests on the elevator, and two on a motorcycle. The French authorities did not immediately comment on this matter.

Investigators are reviewing surveillance video from the Denon Pavilion and the riverfront, examining the basket elevator used to access the exhibit and interviewing employees who were on site when the museum opened, authorities said.

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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.