On Oct. 19, 2025, a brazen daytime robbery was committed at Paris’s Louvre while it was open to visitors. In under eight minutes, beginning around 9:30 a.m., thieves broke into the museum’s gilded Apollo Gallery, which houses precious royal objects. Two of the intruders entered through a window accessed via a cherry picker on a truck positioned by the Louvre’s Seine-facing façade. Two additional accomplices stayed on the street. Once inside, the criminals cracked two glass display cases containing French Crown Jewels and stole nine jewelry pieces of priceless historical value. After less than four minutes in the museum itself, they escaped back down via the truck’s lift. The whole crew sped away on motorized scooters, heading towards a nearby highway.
One item they took, the crown of Empress Eugénie, was dropped on the street and has been recovered. Unfortunately, it was crushed as it was being removed from the display case through a narrow opening and is damaged, but experts think it can be restored. Eight jewels remain missing, estimated to be worth around $102.1 million. As the clock ticks, it becomes less and less likely that the jewels will be recovered. Experts predict that the gems will be removed from their settings, the metal will be melted, many stones will be recut, and all valuables will be circulated into the international jewel market, never to be identifiable again.
