The Louvre is the world’s largest and the most visited art museum, located in Paris, France. Housed in the Louvre Palace, it was originally a fortress built in the late 12th century, and became a royal palace, before being transformed into a public museum in 1793. It contains a diverse collection of art and artifacts from around the world, covering multiple cultural departments, such as Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman antiquities, Paintings, and Islamic art. It is home to some of the most famous and iconic pieces of art in history, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
What happened at The Louvre?
The museum heist took place on October 19, 2025, just after 9:30 AM, when four masked thieves struck the Apollo Gallery, which is the grand room displaying France’s Crown Jewels. The investigation of this heist is still ongoing, but here’s what has been found so far. The group arrived in a truck with a hydraulic lift, posing as construction workers. They reached the second floor, cut through the glass, entered quietly, broke two cases, and stole eight priceless jewels. Within minutes, they fled the scene in two scooters camouflaging themselves in Paris’s morning traffic.
A total of eight pieces of jewelry were stolen. They include a tiara from the parure of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense, a sapphire necklace and single earring from the same set, an emerald necklace and earrings once owned by Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife, a reliquary brooch, and the diadem and corsage bow brooch of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. Reportedly, Eugénie’s crown, which was filled with diamonds and emeralds, was found damaged and abandoned near the museum. The jewels stolen from the museum are worth an estimated $102 million (€88 million).
According to ABC News, the French police had informed them that the DNA prints were found in one of the helmets and one of the gloves that the thieves used in the robbery. Investigators are analyzing them in hopes of finding the identity of the thieves. French police revealed that the Louvre jewel thieves left behind a stolen truck equipped with a mechanical cherry picker, which they used to reach a second-floor window leading to the Apollo Gallery. At the crime scene, investigators also found a blanket, two angle grinders used to break the window and the display cases inside, a walkie-talkie, gasoline, a blowtorch, along with the glove and the helmet containing the thieves’ DNA.
Around 60 investigators are currently working on this case, and their theory is that the robbers were under orders from a well planned criminal organization. The Minister of Culture of France, Rachida Dati, described the thieves as seemingly experienced with a well-prepared plan on how to commit the heist and to flee with little to no difficulty. The latest report from the New York Post states that according to the French detectives, the daring theft of over $100 million worth jewels at the Louvre may have been an inside job, with a museum worker tipping off the thieves.
History repeating itself?
This was not the first high-profile heist at Louvre. Among these, the most infamous is the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa, a crime that stunned France, humiliated the museum, and helped transform a Renaissance portrait into the most recognizable painting on Earth. On the morning of August 21, 1911, the Louvre discovered an empty space where Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa had hung. The frame sat abandoned, the portrait gone. This went straight to national panic: newspapers splashed the story across their front pages, and crowds gathered outside the museum demanding answers. The thief was not a master criminal or international conspirator, but Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian handyman who had previously worked at the Louvre. He hid inside the museum overnight, removed the painting from its frame, concealed it under his clothing, and walked out with it the next morning. His motive, he claimed, was patriotic; the Mona Lisa belonged in Italy, not France. For more than two years, the painting vanished from public view. Peruggia was finally caught in 1913 after attempting to sell the piece in Florence. Despite the humiliation, the theft had an unexpected effect: the Mona Lisa, once a respected but not world-famous work, became the most talked-about painting on the planet.
The next great threat to the museum came from a regime. In 1939, anticipating the Nazi invasion, France began a massive secret evacuation of the Louvre’s masterpieces. The Winged Victory of Samothrace, Venus de Milo, and Mona Lisa were transported to hidden locations all across the countryside. During the occupation, Nazi officers looted countless artworks across Europe, though the greatest treasures of the Louvre had escaped this grasp.
Now, what?
The October 2025 Louvre heist is a shocking reminder that even the world’s most famous museum isn’t completely safe. In just a few minutes, skilled thieves made off with some of France’s most priceless jewels, showing the daring and planning behind the crime. While investigators work to catch those responsible, the museum, and the treasures it houses, remain symbols of history, art, and culture that continue to captivate the world. History has faced threats before, and the Louvre has always endured; this time will be no different.
References
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7nrlkg0zxo
https://abcnews.go.com/International/evidence-left-scene-louvre-jewel-heist/story?id=126812677
https://stanisland.com/2025/10/20/louvre-robbery-2025/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-20/what-we-know-about-the-louvre-jewellery-heist/105910640
https://nypost.com/2025/10/25/world-news/louvre-heist-being-investigated-as-inside-job-with-security-guard-eyed-in-landmark-robbery-report/