Thieves nab French crown jewels from Louvre

Paris police inspect bucket elevator used to look royal jewels from the Louvre — 'It was the most brazen — and possibly the most costly — theft ever staged at the Louvre'

(Image credit: Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

A gang of thieves broke into the Louvre Sunday morning and stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon. The entire heist took less than seven minutes, officials said, and was carried out in broad daylight, shortly after the world’s most-visited museum opened. The eight objects stolen included an emerald necklace and earring that belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife, plus jewelry from Empress Eugénie and queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.

Who said what

The thieves used a truck-mounted basket lift to access the second floor of the Louvre’s riverside facade, then broke in through the windows and smashed targeted display cases, officials said. “It was the most brazen — and possibly the most costly — theft ever staged at the Louvre,” The New York Times said. But “the crime, for all its speed, wasn’t without errors,” The Wall Street Journal said. The thieves “attempted but failed to set fire to their truck” and “dropped the crown of Empress Eugénie, with nearly 1,400 diamonds, before they sped away” on motorcycles. The crown was reportedly damaged.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the stolen items were of “inestimable value.” The recovered crown alone is “worth several tens of millions of euros,” Drouot auction house president Alexandre Giquello told Reuters. “And it’s not, in my opinion, the most important item.”

What next?

“We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice,” President Emmanuel Macron vowed on social media. Nuñez, who was Paris police chief until earlier this month, said investigators had a “good hope” of catching the thieves by studying surveillance footage and other evidence from the crime.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.