Power tool-wielding thieves flee Louvre with ‘priceless’ jewellery
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The Louvre said it was closing for the day “for exceptional reasons”.
PHOTO: AFP
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PARIS – Thieves wielding power tools scaled a furniture hoist outside the Louvre to make off with priceless jewellery from the world-renowned museum on Oct 19, taking just seven minutes for the brazen daylight heist, sources and officials said.
Police were hunting the culprits on the afternoon of Oct 19, while a 19th-century crown covered in diamonds and emeralds was found damaged near the building.
The thieves used a furniture hoist and power tools to get into the gallery, which houses France’s crown jewels as well as the Mona Lisa, sources and officials said.
The crown of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, was found broken near the museum afterwards, a source following the theft said, asking to remain anonymous because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The crown features golden eagles and is covered in 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the museum’s website.
The theft – the latest to target a French museum in recent months – forced the Louvre to close for the rest of the day.
Armed soldiers patrolled the landmark’s esplanade, around the famed glass pyramid serving as its main entrance, while police teams were seen going inside. Evacuated visitors, tourists and passers-by were kept at a distance behind police tape, while roads alongside the museum were closed off.
“Please, don’t waste your time. Just go home and get a refund from the website,” one museum worker told a visitor barred from entering.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said three or four thieves had used the furniture hoist to steal “priceless” goods from two displays in the museum’s Gallerie d’Apollon (Apollo’s Gallery).
It was not immediately clear what other items were taken.
Pieces usually on display there include three historical diamonds – the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia – as well as an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie Louise, the museum said.
The thieves arrived between 9.30am (3.30pm Singapore time) and 9.40am local time for their burglary, a source following the case said.
The museum opened to the public at 9am.
A separate police source said the thieves had drawn up on a scooter armed with angle grinders and used the hoist – an extendible ladder used to move furniture – to reach the room they were targeting.
The brazen heist happened just 800m from Paris police headquarters.
The Louvre said it was closing for the day “for exceptional reasons”. It did not immediately mention the theft.
Contacted by AFP, the Louvre declined further comment.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation and the value of the loot was still being estimated.
The Louvre used to be the seat of French kings, until Louis XIV abandoned it for Versailles in the late 1600s.
It is the world’s most visited museum, welcoming nine million people to its extensive hallways and galleries in 2024.
Louis XIV commissioned the Gallerie d’Apollon himself. It later served as a model for the Hall of Mirrors at the Chateau de Versailles.
In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. It was recovered months later and today sits behind theft- and vandal-proof glass.
Several French museums have recently been targeted.
In September, thieves broke into Paris’ Natural History Museum
They used an angle grinder and a blow torch to steal the native gold, a metal alloy containing gold and silver in their natural unrefined form.
In November 2024, four thieves stole snuffboxes and other precious artifacts from another Paris museum
They snuck into the Cognacq-Jay museum wearing gloves, hoods and helmets, striking in full view of other visitors to the museum.
French President Emmanuel Macron in January pledged that the Louvre would be “redesigned, restored and enlarged” after its director voiced alarm about dire conditions inside
He said he hoped that the works could help increase the annual number of visitors to 12 million. AFP
