It only took seven minutes for thieves in Paris to execute a brazen daylight heist at the famed Louvre museum on Sunday morning, coming away with jewels of “inestimable value” that had once belonged to Napoleon and his empresses.
The Louvre, which is the most visited museum in the world with 8.7 million visitors in 2024 alone, was closed for the day as police investigated how intruders entered the museum at around 9:30 a.m. by forcing open a window, and escaped the scene on motorbikes. The closure was “a security measure and to preserve traces and clues for the investigation,” it said in a statement.
The Parisian Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened an investigation into suspected “organised theft and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime”.
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The robbery at a symbol of French culture has shocked the country and dominated the news on Sunday. It drew a quick response from government ministers, who arrived at the crime scene in the hours after.
French Police officers seal off the entrance to the Louvre Museum after a jewelry heist on October 19, 2025, in Paris, France. Kiran Ridley—Getty Images
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the robbery was “a major, highly organized operation” carried out by a team that had done scouting. He told local French radio that the robbers utilized a disc cutter to slice through panes in order to access the jewels.
Nuñez and Culture Minister Rachida Dati both arrived at the Museum after the robbery to discuss investigations with Museum leadership and the police.
Videos at the scene by French media show tourists and museum-goers being ushered out of the museum shortly after its opening, as police cleared the area to begin their investigation.
Here is what we know about the robbery and how the thieves did it.
They used a construction site as cover
French daily newspaper Le Parisien reported that four thieves, masked and hooded, entered the Museum via the Seine-facing facade, where construction work aided their heist, as a cherry picker allowed them to access the Apollo Gallery jewel room directly on the first floor.
Photographs from the scene show investigators focusing on a ladder against the south-east corner of the building, overlooking the River Seine. The ladder is mounted onto a mechanised lift and touches a balcony on the upper floor of the museum. Authorities have not been able to confirm whether the ladder was there for the construction work or was placed by the thieves.
An escape on a scooter
Following the swift robbery, the thieves reportedly escaped on Yamaha ‘TMax’ scooters—which have a powerful 560cc engine—and headed in the direction of a nearby highway.
The jewels were priceless historic items
Exact details about what was taken are not yet known. But local reports suggest that nine items were taken from the Apollo Gallery, which houses what is left of the French crown jewels, most of which were stolen after the French Revolution.
The collection consists of pieces owned by the Emperor Napoleon, his nephew Napoleon III, and their wives, the empresses Marie-Louise and Eugenie.
Le Parisien reported that one jewel, the Crown of Empress Eugenie, was later found abandoned and damaged outside the Museum.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
