Jewelry worth €88 million stolen from the Louvre in Paris

On Sunday morning, four armed and masked men broke into the Galerie d’Apollon hall of the Louvre Museum in Paris and stole eight pieces of jewelry, including Empress Eugénie’s crown and other items from the Napoleonic era. The total value of the stolen pieces is estimated at €88 million, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

According to the investigation, the criminals arrived at the museum in a truck equipped with a mechanical lift and entered the hall through a balcony facing the Seine. Two of them cut the glass using battery-powered cutters and threatened the guards; staff evacuated the area. When the thieves attempted to set their vehicle on fire, a museum employee intervened, preventing the arson. The robbers fled on scooters.

The stolen items include Empress Eugénie’s crown, an emerald and diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon to his wife, earrings of Queen Marie-Amélie, and other jewelry. Investigators found a damaged piece belonging to the Empress along the escape route, which the museum believes may have been dropped during the thieves’ hurried getaway.

President Emmanuel Macron described the incident as “an attack on national heritage,” while Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin called it a failure of security measures. A preliminary report noted that one-third of the museum’s halls lacked surveillance cameras and the general alarm system did not activate. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccu stated that publishing the value of the stolen items should serve as a deterrent.

Art smuggling experts note that in such crimes, stolen jewelry is often melted down and smuggled abroad, making recovery difficult and the loss of historical artifacts irreversible.