Theft of the century: new details of the Louvre robbery
20 October 2025 01:16
On October 19, three masked men robbed the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre in Paris, stealing valuable jewelry, Le Parisien newspaper reports, "Komersant Ukrainian".
Apparently, the robbers took away nine of the 23 items in the collection of Napoleon III: a necklace, a brooch and a tiara, among others. There is a risk that they will be sold or melted down. However, the museum managed to find a broken crown of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, near the museum.
The largest diamond in the collection, the famous Regent weighing over 140 carats, remained intact.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced the launch of an investigation, which was entrusted to the Anti-Gangsterism Brigade of the Judicial Police (BRB) with the support of the Central Office for Combating Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC). The damage is currently being assessed. The Metropolitan Police have been mobilized to search for the perpetrators.
“Everything possible is being done to find the criminals as soon as possible,” assured French Interior Minister Laurent Nunes.
The Louvre’s administration reported on the social network X that the museum was closed on October 19 “for exceptional reasons.”
How did the robbers get into the Louvre?
According to preliminary information, the robbers entered the Louvre on the morning of October 19 during the opening of the museum from the Seine embankment, where construction work was underway. They used a truck mounted tower to immediately enter a room in the Apollo Gallery.
Two men smashed the windows with an angle grinder and entered the building, while the third remained downstairs, Le Parisien found out. The robbers took the jewelry and fled on two T-Max scooters. They headed toward the A6 highway.
The robbery lasted seven minutes, said French Interior Minister Nunes. However, the French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati claims that the attackers managed to get away with it in four minutes. The issue of museum security in France is a long-standing problem, and it has not been given proper attention for 40 years, she said on TF1.
“Until now, it was like a movie script. It’s hard to imagine that it’s so easy to rob the Louvre,” Mayor Ariel Weil responded.
After the incident, all museum visitors were evacuated to preserve traces and evidence. There were no casualties.
According to the French Interior Ministry, the perpetrators may be foreigners. The French Ministry of Culture believes that the perpetrators were professionals.
