In no more than 7 minutes, the world’s grandest museum, the Louvre, was raided in what seemed like “a scenario out of a film or a television series” on Sunday, according to Ariel Weil, the mayor of central Paris. In what has since emerged as the most brazen, and possibly even the most costly, theft the Louvre has faced, the incident took place in broad daylight between 9:30 and 9:40 am local time, shortly after the art museum opened its door to visitors.
It has since been revealed that four thieves wielding power tools made off with 8 “priceless” items of jewellery, including jewels worn by Empress Eugenie, the wife of France’s 19th-century ruler Napoleon III. Here’s everything that the most-visited museum in the world lost on Sunday.
Louvre museum robbery: All items of jewellery stolen
In a recently unveiled report by the French Ministry of Culture (as quoted by Visegrad 24), the 8 pieces of jewellery taken from the Louvre were:
- a sapphire tiara
- a necklace and earrings that were once worn by Dutch Queen Hortense de Beauharnais and then French Queen Marie-Amelie
- an emerald necklace and earrings from the parure of Napoleon’s second wife, Marie-Louise
- a reliquary brooch
- another tiara
- a large diamond corsage bow of Empress Eugenie
The Louvre acquired the last one listed here – laden with 2,635 diamonds – in 2008 for €6.72 million after it was privately held in the US, as per the museum’s collection records. All of the now-stolen pieces had made the Galerie d’Apollon, aka Gallery of Apollo, (which Louis XIV built it in 1661) in the Louvre their home. With gold lead and paintings taking over the hall, it emerged as a model for the Palace of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors.
🇫🇷 According to the latest report from France’s Ministry of Culture, eight pieces of jewelry were stolen from the Louvre:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 19, 2025
– a sapphire tiara,
– a necklace and earrings that once belonged to Dutch Queen Hortense de Beauharnais and later to French Queen Marie-Amélie,
– an emerald… pic.twitter.com/5SbHiuK593
Other than those whisked away from the museum, two other items, including Empress Eugenie’s crown (consisting of 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds), were discovered near the scene. The robbers presumably dropped them while fleeing.
While an estimated cost of the loss incurred by the museum has yet to be revealed, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez labelled the stolen jewels “priceless” and “of immeasurable heritage value.”
How did the Louvre heist happen?
As per Culture Minister Rachida Dati’s admission to the French news outlet TF1, footage of the robbery depicted masked robbers coming in “calmly” and breaking the display cases where the jewels were being held. Noting how “no violence” was reported in the aftermath, the official described it as a “very professional” undertaking by people who were seemingly “experienced,” and had barged in a well-crafted plan to make their escapes on two scooters.
Pictures depicting how the thieves gained access to Gallery of Apollo showed a vehicle-mounted ladder positioned up to a first-floor window, Thereafter, they used a battery-powered disc cutter to break in and come into the Louvre. After threatening the guards, two thieves executed the robbery.
At this point, alarms had already been sounded off, with staff contacting authorities. Meanwhile, them smashing two cases prompted more alarms to be alerted. Ultimately, the two burglars inside the museum went down the same way they came up, while the other duo waited for them on motor scooters.
The culture ministry also disclosed that the gang of four robbers had attempted to set their vehicle ablaze outside the museum. However, a member of the museum staff stopped them from doing so, as per the BBC.
