The Louvre has reopened simply three days after one of many highest-profile museum thefts of the century that surprised the world.
Thieves slipped out and in of the museum in a brazen daylight heist that lasted lower than eight minutes on Sunday, stealing eight objects from two high-security show instances, the Ministry of Tradition confirmed.
The theft, which occurred steps from the Mona Lisa and concerned objects valued at greater than $100 million, has put France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Louvre chief Laurence des Automobiles underneath contemporary scrutiny. It comes simply months after the museum’s staff went on strike, warning of persistent understaffing and under-resourced protections, with too few eyes on too many rooms.
Newest particulars on the investigation
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau mentioned skilled analyses are underway and that 4 individuals have been recognized partaking within the theft. The prosecutor added {that a} staff of about 100 investigators have been assigned to the crime, and authorities are analyzing fingerprints found at thescene.
Detectives are persevering with to research video digital camera footage from across the museum in addition to important highways in Paris for indicators of the robbers, who escaped on motorbikes.
The jewels stay lacking and the thieves are nonetheless at massive after they used a powered, extendable ladder to get into the second-floor Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo’s Gallery) housing the crown jewels, officers mentioned.
The intruders pressured open a window, lower panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the glass show instances, officers mentioned.
The heist occurred about half-hour after the museum opened, with guests already inside, and unfolded simply 250 metres from the famed Mona Lisa.
Inside Minister Laurent Nunez mentioned the crew entered from exterior utilizing a cherry picker by way of the riverfront facade to succeed in the corridor with the 23-item royal assortment.
The thieves smashed two show instances with an angle grinder and fled on motorbikes, Nunez mentioned. Alarms introduced Louvre brokers to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, however the theft was already completed.
Beccuau mentioned that the thieves threatened museum guards with the angle grinder they used to interrupt into the jewellery instances earlier than they fled.
Jewels stolen price greater than $100 million
Beccuau valued the haul at about €102 million, a “spectacular” determine that also fails to seize the works’ historic weight.
Thieves stole eight objects from two high-security show instances, together with items that belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, who was the spouse of French Emperor Napoleon I, and others that belonged to Empress Eugénie, the spouse of Napoleon III.
She warned the thieves can be unlikely to get something near that sum in the event that they pry out stones or soften the metals — a destiny curators concern would pulverize centuries of which means into nameless gems for the black market.
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“We will maybe hope that they’ll take into consideration this and received’t destroy these jewels with out rhyme or motive,” she mentioned.
“You will need to do not forget that this harm is an financial harm, however it’s nothing in comparison with the historic harm attributable to this theft,” Beccuau mentioned in an interview with RTL radio.
Thieves tried to steal Empress Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown, containing greater than 1,300 diamonds, however it was later discovered exterior the museum, French authorities mentioned. It was reportedly recovered damaged.
This image exhibits the crown of the Empress of the French Eugénie de Montijo displayed at Apollon’s Gallery on January 14, 2020, on the Louvre museum in Paris after the reopening of the Gallery following 10 months of renovations.
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
The French authorities is not going to be compensated for the stolen artwork. These at non-public museums in Paris are normally coated by non-public insurance coverage, a authorities spokesperson mentioned Tuesday, according to the New York Times. However within the case of the Louvre, “that state acts as its personal insurer.”
The items weren’t insured, in line with France’s tradition ministry, which it says isn’t unusual “given the price of taking out insurance coverage” and the truth that “the accident price is low.”
The Louvre’s administration defended the standard of the show instances that housed the stolen jewels.
“The Louvre Museum affirms that the show instances put in in December 2019 represented a substantial step ahead when it comes to safety, given the diploma of obsolescence of the outdated gear, which might have led, with out alternative, to the works being faraway from public view,” the administration staff told AFP.
Questions on Louvre’s safety overhaul
The Louvre’s director Laurence des Automobiles confronted questioning by a cultural committee on the French Senate on Wednesday amid questions over the safety on the world’s most visited museum.
A couple of minutes earlier than the listening to, Jacques Grosperrin, vice-president of the Senate’s tradition committee, mentioned they’d be asking des Automobiles why she needed to resign following the aftermath of the heist.
“Why did she wish to resign? I perceive that she submitted her resignation to the Minister of Tradition, who refused it. If she needed to resign, it was as a result of she felt accountable, responsible, I don’t know, however accountable,” he mentioned, earlier than including, “I believe she ought to have requested the Minister of Tradition for her resignation.”
Des Automobiles, the primary lady to guide the Louvre since Could 2021, started her speech by saying that she “needed to re-establish some truths.”
“I’ve confronted all my obligations. I’ve seen my identify thrown to the wolves, I’ve seen malicious press articles unfold and false info flourish,” she mentioned, according to the newspaper Le Parisien.
She confirmed that she had submitted her resignation to the Minister of Tradition, which was declined.
“Final Sunday, after having noticed alongside the Minister of Tradition and the Minister of the Inside the implications of the horrible assault we had simply suffered, I supplied my resignation to the Minister of Tradition. She refused,” des Automobiles revealed.
Laurence des Automobiles, director of Le Louvre museum, poses earlier than a listening to on the Tradition fee of the Senate, three days after historic jewels have been stolen in a daring daylight heist, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025 in Paris.
AP Picture/Emma Da Silva
She went on to say that she needed to “present goal and well-founded insights into the protection of the collections home within the Louvre.”
“Regardless of our efforts, regardless of our exhausting work every single day, now we have been defeated,” she mentioned, including that since 2021, she has continued to “draw the eye of our nationwide illustration and the media to the state of degradation and common obsolescence of the Louvre, its constructing and its infrastructure.”
She additionally defined that the museum’s safety depends on gear, “however these sources aren’t sufficient with out skilled groups and well-applied procedures.”
“On this topic, over the previous 10 years, the museum has seen a decline in its surveillance and safety employees. Below my presidency, these employees numbers haven’t decreased. Since 2022, they’ve elevated by 5.5 per cent, ” she added.
Des Automobiles mentioned that in Sunday’s theft, Louvre brokers “weren’t armed” and that they “adopted the safety protocol with responsiveness, precision and composure.”
“Due to their professionalism, nobody was injured. On this nightmare, no human life was affected,” she added.
Minister of Tradition Rachida Dati instructed France’s Nationwide Meeting that there had been no failure within the museum’s safety preparations.
“The Louvre Museum is far more than the biggest museum on the planet. It’s the showcase of French tradition and our shared heritage,” she mentioned.
“The Louvre’s safety measures weren’t defective, that’s a truth. The Louvre Museum’s safety measures labored,” she mentioned, including that she launched an administrative investigation “which is able to present a completely clear account of the occasions that occurred final Sunday.”
Macron urged ministers to make sure safety was tightened on the Louvre after the thieves snatched the jewels.
In a cupboard assembly, the president mentioned “safety measures have been being deployed for the Louvre and requested a rushing up of those measures,” France 24 reports.
All this comes after Macron introduced new measures in January for the Louvre — full with a brand new command publish and expanded digital camera grid that the tradition ministry says is being rolled out.
In June, a employees walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing delayed the opening. Unions argue that mass tourism has resulted in too few eyes on too many rooms and creates stress factors the place building zones, freight entry and customer flows intersect.
On Wednesday, the Louvre’s different star sights — from the Venus de Milo to the Winged Victory of Samothrace — have been open once more. However the Apollo Gallery housing the Crown Diamonds stayed sealed, with a folding display screen obscuring the doorway on the gallery’s rotunda entrance.
— With information from The Related Press
