The Louvre Museum in Paris remained closed on Monday as police continue to investigate a brazen daylight heist that lasted less than eight minutes in total a day earlier inside the world’s most visited museum.
On Sunday, thieves rode a basket lift (or cherry picker) up the Louvre’s facade and smashed an upstairs window and display cases before fleeing with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.
The heist took place about 30 minutes after the museum opened, with visitors already inside, and unfolded just 250 metres from the Mona Lisa.
Here’s everything we know so far about one of the highest-profile museum thefts as a manhunt for the perpetrators is underway in Paris.
How it happened
At around 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, masked thieves used an electric ladder and grinders to break into the second-floor Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo’s Gallery), which is a large room where the Crown Diamonds are displayed, including the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia.
The intruders forced open a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the glass display cases, officials said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the crew entered from outside using a cherry picker via the riverfront facade to reach the hall with the 23-item royal collection.
The thieves smashed two display cases and fled on motorbikes, Nunez said. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, but the theft was already done.
Infographic showing the exterior and interior of the Louvre Museum’s Apollo Gallery, in Paris, where thieves stole crown jewels on Oct. 19.
Marie-Amélie and Hortense
The cherry picker remained against the wall where they entered. Officials say the thieves brought the electric ladder and it was later removed.
A basket lift used by thieves is seen at the Louvre museum Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025 in Paris.
AP Photo/Alexander Turnbull
What jewels were stolen?
Thieves stole eight items from two high-security display cases, the Ministry of Culture confirmed on Sunday evening.
They took off with pieces that belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, who was the wife of French Emperor Napoleon I, and others that belonged to Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III.
The eight objects stolen include:
Empress Eugénie tiara
Empress Eugenie’s diadem of pearls exhibited in the Apollo’s Galery housing the royal collection of gems and diamonds from the French crown in Paris in France on May 20, 2021.
MAEVA DESTOMBES/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
Empress Eugénie decorative bow brooch
The Empress Eugenie Brooch, an antique diamond bow brooch, sits on display during a media preview for the Christie’s Rare Jewels and Gemstones: The Eye of a Connoisseur sale in New York, U.S., on Friday, April 11, 2008.
Jb Reed/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense
This photograph shows the Parure de la reine Marie-Amelie et de la Reine Hortense (set of jewelry of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense) displayed at Apollon’s Gallery on Jan. 14, 2020 at the Louvre museum in Paris after the reopening of the Gallery following 10 months of renovations.
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images
Emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise
Necklace and earrings from the emerald set of Napoleon I’s second wife Empress Marie Louise on display in the Apollo’s gallery housing the royal collection of gems and diamonds of the French crown in Paris in France on May 20, 2021.
MAEVA DESTOMBES/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
The thieves also took a reliquary brooch of Empress Eugénie.
Thieves attempted to steal Empress Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, but it was later found outside the museum, French authorities said. It was reportedly recovered broken.
This picture shows the crown of the Empress of the French Eugénie de Montijo displayed at Apollon’s Gallery on Jan. 14, 2020 at the Louvre museum in Paris after the reopening of the Gallery following 10 months of renovations.
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images
What police have discovered so far
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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 of “inestimable” historical value.
No injuries were reported following the robbery but the thieves remained at large as of Sunday night.
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. French authorities did not immediately comment on this.
Investigators are reviewing CCTV from the Denon wing and the riverfront, inspecting the cherry picker used to reach the gallery and interviewing staff who were on site when the museum opened, authorities said.
Five museum workers were in the room and adjacent rooms when the robbery took place and immediately contacted police, the culture ministry said.
The Ministry of Culture thanked its employees for calling police, which resulted in the thieves fleeing and leaving behind their equipment.
Culture Minister Rachida Dati said investigators are working on evidence found at the scene.
“We did find motorcycles and they have a licence plate,” Dati told news broadcaster CNews. “I also want to pay tribute to the security officers who prevented the basket lift from being set on fire. One of the criminals tried to set it on fire, but they forced him to flee. This allowed us to recover evidence at the scene.”
Officials said the heist lasted less than eight minutes in total, including less than four minutes inside the Louvre.
“They went straight to the display windows, they knew exactly what they wanted. They were very efficient,” Dati said.
Dati stressed that a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan that was launched earlier this year includes security improvements.
“When the Louvre Museum was designed, it was not meant to accommodate 10 million visitors,” she said.
The 700-million-euro plan is intended to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031.
When will the Louvre reopen?
The Louvre closed for the rest of Sunday for the forensic investigation to begin as police sealed gates, cleared courtyards and shut nearby streets along the Seine.
The museum said Monday that it would remain closed.
“Visitors who have already booked tickets will be refunded,” it said in a statement on X.
The museum’s staff asked dozens of visitors who were queuing in front of the glass pyramid entrance to leave.
It currently remains unclear when the museum may reopen to the public. The Louvre is always closed on Tuesdays, so the earliest it could reopen this week would be Wednesday, the BBC reports.
What French politicians are saying about the theft
French President Emmanuel Macron took to social media, calling the heist an “attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history.”
“The perpetrators will be brought to justice,” Macron added. “Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of the Paris prosecutor’s office.”
Gérald Darmanin, France’s justice minister, told France Inter radio that “the French people, for the most part, feel as though they have been robbed.”
“In the same way that when Notre-Dame burned, it was our church that was burning — even if you weren’t Catholic — such an incredible jewelry robbery at the Louvre looks bad,” Darmania added.
Darmanin also acknowledged security failures on Monday.
“One can wonder about the fact that, for example, the windows hadn’t been secured, about the fact that a basket lift was on a public road,” he said. “Having (previously) been interior minister, I know that we cannot completely secure all places, but what is certain is that we have failed.”
Interior Minister Nunez ordered prefects across France to immediately reassess security measures protecting museums and other cultural sites and enhance them if necessary.
— With files from The Associated Press
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