2025 Louvre Heist
A lot of people were asking me to write about this one and tbh I was just waiting until we had more information and some clarity around it, but we’ve waited long enough. So allons-y!
The Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon
I figure everyone knows a little something about the Louvre, big museum/gallery in Paris, home to the Mona Lisa, so I’m skipping right to the specific gallery of focus for this case; the 16th-century Galerie d’Apollon. This gallery is absolutely stunning. King Louis XIV famously associated himself with the sun god Apollo, and this gallery was a true manifestation of this association. He hired the greatest painters, guilders, and sculptors of the day to create this magnificent hall. These same artisans later worked on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
When the palace was converted into a museum the Galerie d’Apollon became home to King Louis XIV’s collection of “hardstone” vessels (think: drinking glasses made out of different types of stones and crystal) as well as the French crown jewels. So you can see how this might be appealing to thieves.
The Heist
Let’s get to the good stuff now, shall we? On October 19, 2025 at 9:30am the Louvre was open and filling up with visitors for the day when four people dressed in construction gear with balaclavas covering their faces arrived to the building. They quickly set up a furniture lift, something that’s common in Paris, and two of them used it to climb up to the second story of the building via the Balcon de Charles IX. They then used a disc cutter to cut through a window and gain access to the gallery inside.
This set off a security alarm inside the Louvre but the thieves threatened the guards with their power tools and the security backed off (calling for backup). The two thieves then started ransacking the gallery, taking a total of nine pieces from two glass display cases, together these items are estimated to be worth around $143 million. The stolen items are:
The tiara from the sapphire set of Queen Marie-Amalie and Queen Hortense
The necklace from the same set
Two earrings from the same set
The emerald necklace from Marie-Louise’s set
Two emerald earrings from the same set
The tiara of Empress Eugénie
Large bodice bow of Empress Eugénie
The crown of Empress Eugénie
After securing these goods and damaging the crown of Empress Eugénie by pulling it through a too-small hole in the display case, they left the building the same way they had entered: through the window and down the lift. Their two collaborators were waiting for them at the bottom on electric scooters, and the four scootered away along the banks of the Seine and onto the A6 autoroute. However, before they escaped, they dropped the crown of Empress Eugénie on the street, thus reducing their haul.
This entire robbery only took eight minutes, of which only four minutes were actually spent inside the Louvre.
The Aftermath
Obviously, this is a brazen daylight robbery on one of the most famous museums in the world, so it will be clear why it got immediate international attention.
When the security guards called for backup during the robbery, another team of guards in a car drove to cut off the thieves before they could flee and just missed them by 30 seconds. Also, while we’re on the topic of security, a lot of lapses in the system came into focus after this event. It was found that only 39% of the museum’s rooms were covered by CCTV cameras, and the CCTV in the Galerie d’Apollo was facing the wrong way. Also, in an audit done by France’s National Cybersecurity Agency, they recommended fixing many of these issues and warned the museum about serious security flaws (eg. the password to the security system was “Louvre”). It’s unclear if the thieves knew any of this, but the slow speed at which updates were being made definitely worked in their favour.
The police arrived at the museum shortly after the robbery, and it was evacuated and closed to the public. Later, the investigators said that they had collected over 150 pieces of evidence from the scene, including fingerprints and DNA. Because of the speed and efficacy of the robbery, the police suspect it was carried out by experienced, professional criminals. In the wake of this event, the museum transferred some of its most precious remaining jewels to the Bank of France for safekeeping.
The public outcry was swift. French President Emmanuel Macron, said on X: “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” (Chrisafis, 2025). Ariel Weil, the Socialist mayor of Paris’s central area, said he was “shocked” and that it seemed like a storyline from a film. He told Le Parisien: “It’s hard to imagine that it was seemingly so easy to burgle the Louvre” (Chrisafis, 2025).
The Arrests
Ten days after the robbery, on October 29, 2025, two arrests were made in connection with this crime. One was a 34-year-old man attempting to leave the country on a flight bound for Algeria. He was arrested at the airport and was already known to police. The second was a 39-year-old man arrested at his home in Auvervillers, and was also known to police. Additionally, they found the second man’s DNA on one of the glass cases where the stolen jewels were displayed and on some of the items the thieves left behind.
After some time, in November 2025, four more arrests were made; two more men and two women. With these arrests, the police say they have all four suspected members of the four person group who carried out the crime behind bars. It’s unclear what the role of the other two arrested individuals is. Oh also, any mug shots or names you’ve seen are fake. The French police haven’t released any arreated person’s names or photos.
Now all that’s left to do is hope the authorities are able to find the jewels, so far nothing has turned up, and wait for the trials to start.
Works Cited
“2 Suspects in Louvre Heist ‘Partially’ Admit to Their Participation: Prosecutor”. CBC. 2025. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/louvre-jewel-heist-suspects-9.6958614
Aikman, Ian and Rachel Hagan. “Everything We Know About the Louvre Jewellery Heist”. BBC. 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7nrlkg0zxo
Chrisafis, Angelique. “Louvre Heist: Hunt On for Thieves After Eight ‘Priceless’ Jewellery Pieces Stolen”. The Guardian. 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/19/louvre-closed-after-robbery-french-culture-minister-says