2025，法国卢浮宫劫案, Louvre robbery in France

On 19 October 2025, thieves stole part of the French Crown Jewels from the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre in Paris, France. The robbery took four to seven minutes.[1][2] It was the first art theft to occur at the Louvre since the 1998 robbery of the painting Le chemin de Sèvres.[3]

Heist

A "monte-meuble"

The robbery occurred at about 9:30 a.m. local time, half an hour after the museum opened to visitors.[4][5] The thieves arrived at the building on motor scooters and entered from the Seine side, bringing small chainsaws as well as other tools. The robbers were wearing yellow and orange vests to disguise themselves as workers.[5] Two members of the crew,[6] with their faces concealed with balaclavas,[4] gained entry to a second-floor balcony of the building’s south side using a monte-meubles, a vehicle-mounted electric ladder commonly used in Paris to hoist furniture.[6] Once they gained access using the basket lift,[1] they used a battery-powered disc cutter [7] or grinder [6] to cut through a glass window to access the Galerie d'Apollon, triggering security alarms.[6] After threatening the guards with their power tools, the thieves stole eight items from two glass display cases,[7][8] then left the museum by descending the ladder to two other members of the crew,[6] who were waiting on Yamaha TMAX motor scooters.[9] They attempted to set fire to the basket of the vehicle-mounted lift before fleeing, but a museum staffer blocked them from doing so.[6] The thieves fled towards the A6 autoroute.[10] The entire theft took no more than seven minutes.[8]

Items stolen

The stolen items were identified by the Ministry of Culture as:

The tiara, necklace, and an earring from Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily and Hortense de Beauharnais set [fr]
The emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the Empress Marie Louise set
The reliquary brooch
The large corsage bow brooch of Eugénie de Montijo
Tiara of Empress Eugénie
The Crown of Empress Eugénie.[11][12][13]

The collection's most famous item, the Regent Diamond, was left in place. While fleeing, the robbers dropped the Crown of Empress Eugénie as well as another unspecified jewelled item.[6]

Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on a BFM TV interview that it is a "mystery" as to why the thieves failed to steal the Regent Diamond, valued at over $60 million USD.[4]

The museum was evacuated and did not reopen for the rest of the day.[14][15]

Stolen items
Earrings from the sapphire set of Queen Marie-Amélie 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 Eugenie.
Large bodice bow of Empress Eugenie.

Investigation

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the robbery,[6] with Prosecutor Laure Beccuau saying that 60 people had been assigned to the investigation.[16] Police reviewed CCTV footage along the escape route.[7] Photographs showed the small truck parked next to the museum with a cherry picker and ladder stretched out to a first floor balcony.[17] Le Parisien reported that the police recovered "two angle grinders, a blowtorch, gasoline, gloves, a walkie-talkie, a blanket and a crown" at the scene.[8]

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.[18]

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called it a "major robbery" and that the value of the stolen goods was "incalculable".[19][1] Minister of Culture 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."[13]