Paris, October 26 — In what has become a startling blow to France’s national heritage, an armed quartet executed a lightning‐fast heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday, making off with eight historic jewellery treasures valued at an estimated €88 million (around US $102 million), according to french media reports
The robbers struck around 9:30 a.m., mere minutes after the museum opened its doors. Using a truck-mounted mechanical lift and posing as maintenance personnel, they scaled the building to reach the famed Galerie d’Apollon, home to royal crowns and diadems. Once inside, the gang cut into two display cases with power tools, threatened guards, and fled within four to seven minutes, vanishing on scooters.
Among the stolen pieces are an emerald-and-diamond necklace once given by Napoleon I to Empress Marie-Louis, and the tiara of Empress Eugénie, adorned with nearly 2,000 diamonds. A crown belonging to Empress Eugénie was dropped during the escape and later recovered, albeit damaged the only item thus far retrieved.
In the wake of the robbery, the Louvre reopened to visitors on Wednesday, though the Galerie d’Apollon remains shuttered pending forensic review and security enhancements. Officials have mobilised more than 100 investigators and opened an administrative inquiry into how the heist could occur in broad daylight at the world’s most-visited museum.
The museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, described the event as a “terrible failure” of security and offered her resignation; a gesture that was refused by the culture minister. Union representatives, however, maintain that chronic understaffing and outdated surveillance allowed the intrusion to unfold.
While the stolen jewels’ monetary worth is staggering, prosecutors stress the loss to France’s cultural memory is far greater than any price tag
