2025 Louvre robbery

On 19 October 2025, thieves disguised as construction workers stole eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels valued at €88 million from the Galerie d'Apollon (lit. 'Apollo's Gallery') of the Louvre in Paris, France. The robbery took less than eight minutes, of which the thieves spent four in the museum itself, and happened during regular opening hours.^[1][2] It was the first art theft from the Louvre since the 1998 theft of the painting Le chemin de Sèvres.^[3][4]

2025 Louvre robbery

The Galerie d'Apollon in 2024
Site of the heist
Date	19 October 2025 (2025-10-19)
Time	c. 09:30 (CEST)
Venue	Louvre
Location	Paris, France
Type	Jewellery theft
Stolen value	€88 million

Background

The 16th-century Galerie d'Apollon within the Louvre displayed what remained of the French Crown Jewels, including the Crown of Louis XV and the Hortensia diamond.^[5]

The first documented theft from the Louvre occurred in 1911, when Vincenzo Peruggia, a former employee of the museum, stole the Mona Lisa (it was recovered two years later in Italy).^[6] In 1998 the Le chemin de Sèvres painting by Camille Corot was stolen and has not yet been found. At the time, the Louvre director Pierre Rosenberg warned that the museum's security was "fragile".^[7] Laurence des Cars, director of the museum at the time of the 2025 robbery, had asked the Paris police to conduct a security audit of the museum. Although recommendations were made after the audit, they were only beginning to be implemented at the time of the robbery.^[7] According to labour unions, Louvre security had been undermined by staff reductions, while museum attendance has soared. The Union syndicale Solidaires issued a statement on 19 October 2025, complaining about "the destruction of security jobs" at the Louvre.^[7]

In the 2020s other French museums were also targeted and had items stolen, including the Cognacq-Jay Museum and the Hiéron Museum [fr], both in November 2024, and the Adrien Dubouché Museum in September 2025.^[8] The National Museum of Natural History in Paris was also robbed of gold worth €600,000 on 16 September 2025.^[9][10]

Theft

A "monte-meuble" vehicle-mounted hoist, similar to the one used in the robbery

The robbery occurred at about 9:30 am CEST, 30 minutes after the museum opened to visitors.^[11][12] The thieves arrived at the building and entered from the side of the Seine river, bringing tools. They wore yellow and orange vests to disguise themselves as construction workers.^[12] Two members,^[13] with their faces concealed with balaclavas,^[11] gained entry to a first-storey^[12][8] balcony of the building's south side using a basket lift (monte-meuble), a vehicle-mounted electric hoist commonly used in Paris to move furniture in or out of a building via an upper-storey window.^[13]

Once they gained access using the hoist's platform,^[14] they used a disc cutter^[12] to cut through a glass window to access the Galerie d'Apollon, triggering security alarms.^[13] After threatening the guards with their power tools, the thieves took nine pieces from two glass display cases,^[8][15] then left the museum by descending the hoist's ladder to two other members of the crew,^[13] who were waiting on motor scooters.^[16] During their exit, they dropped the Crown of Empress Eugénie in the street, reducing their haul to eight items.^[17] They attempted to set fire to the basket of the vehicle-mounted lift before fleeing, but a museum staffer prevented them from doing so.^[13] The thieves fled along the banks of the Seine to the Boulevard Périphérique and then took the A6 autoroute southwards.^[18][19] The entire robbery took just under eight minutes of which the thieves spent four in the building after cutting the window.^[1]

Items stolen

The items were identified by the Ministry of Culture as:

• The tiara, necklace, and an earring of Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily and Hortense de Beauharnais from the Queen Maria Amalia sapphire set [fr]
• The emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the Empress Marie Louise set
• The reliquary brooch, a large corsage bow brooch, and the tiara of Empress Eugénie de Montijo^[20][21]

While fleeing, the robbers dropped the Crown of Empress Eugénie, which was found "badly damaged" due to the thieves pulling it through an opening in the glass cases that was too small for it. Director De Cars shared that "initial assessments suggest that a delicate restoration is possible".^[22][23] The Paris prosecutor's office said that a second jewelled item had also been dropped but did not say what it was.^[13] Media and experts noted that the thieves did not appear to target several significant diamonds in the gallery; the Regent (valued at €51 million alone^[24]), the Sancy, and the Hortensia.^[25][26][27]

The prosecutor Laure Beccuau said that "the Louvre curator estimated the damages to be €88 million" but also added that "the greater loss was to France's historical heritage".^[28][29][30]

• Stolen items
• 
  Earrings from the sapphire set of Queen Maria Amalia and Queen Hortense
• 
  Necklace from the same set
• 
  Tiara from the same set
• 
  Emerald necklace from Marie Louise's set
• 
  Pair of emerald earrings from Marie Louise's set
• 
  Tiara of Empress Eugénie
• 
  Large bodice bow of Empress Eugénie
• 
  Crown of Empress Eugénie (recovered, damaged)

Investigation

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the incident,^[13] with prosecutor Laure Beccuau saying that 60 people had been assigned to the investigation.^[31] Interior minister Laurent Nuñez said in a later statement that more than 100 investigators were assigned.^[32]

Police reviewed CCTV footage along the escape route.^[8] Photographs showed a small truck parked next to the museum with its lift extended up to a first-floor balcony.^[33] Le Parisien reported that the police recovered power tools, a blowtorch, gasoline, gloves, a walkie-talkie, a blanket and a crown at the scene.^[15]

Aftermath

Following the robbery, the museum was evacuated and closed to the public.^[34][35][36] It reopened on 22 October, though the Galerie d'Apollon remained closed.^[37] Interpol added the jewels to its Stolen Works of Art database on 20 October.^[38]

After the robbery Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, ordered a "speeding-up" of the implementation of the recommendations made during a previous audit.^[32]

Museum director Laurence des Cars appeared before the Senate's Committee on Culture on 22 October 2025 to address questions by the lawmakers, and acknowledged shortcomings in the museum's surveillance systems, noting that parts of the building were not adequately covered by external cameras at the time of the theft.^[39] Des Cars confirmed that she had offered her resignation to the Ministry of Culture on the day of the burglary, but that the offer was declined.^[39][22]

Reactions

President Emmanuel Macron condemned the robbery, saying:

The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history. We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of the Paris prosecutor's office. The Louvre New Renaissance project, which we launched in January, provides for strengthened security. It will be the guarantor of the preservation and protection of what constitutes our memory and our culture.^[40]

Interior Minister Nuñez called it a "major robbery" and said the stolen goods were "of immeasurable heritage value".^[41][14]

Culture Minister Rachida Dati told TF1: "We saw some footage: they don't target people, they enter calmly in four minutes, smash display cases, take their loot, and leave. No violence, very professional."^[42]

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin reflected on the image that the robbery projected onto France, saying "People were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image."^[43]

Political opponents have used the heist to harshly criticise the current government. Éric Ciotti, the leader of the UDR in the National Assembly, described the heist as an "ultimate symbol of its [the current government's] collapse". He also said that by allowing such an event to take place "the entire nation is threatened". The Communist senator Ian Brossat also criticised the government's feeble reaction to a recent strike over "untenable conditions" at the museum.^[13]

See also

• France portal

• 2025 Drents Museum heist – Heist in Assen, Netherlands
• Dresden Green Vault burglary – Burglary of jewellery
• Vincenzo Peruggia § Theft