HEIST OF THE CENTURY: Thieves Stole "Priceless" Napoleon Crown Jewels From The Louvre In Paris In An Orchestrated Caper Straight Out Of A Hollywood Blockbuster
Time Magazine - It took only a few minutes for thieves to execute a brazen daylight heist at the famed Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday morning, coming away with jewels of “inestimable value” that had once belonged to Napoleon and his empresses.
The Louvre, which is the world's most visited museum with 8.7 million visitors in 2024 alone, was closed for the day as police investigated how the robbers were able to carry out the most high-profile theft in modern French history.
"The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our History," President Emmanuel Macron said on X. "We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice."
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 within hours.
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.
French daily newspaper Le Parisien reported that four thieves, masked and hooded, entered the Museum via the Seine-facing facade at around 9.30 am. Construction work aided their heist, as a cherry picker allowed them to access the Apollo Gallery jewel room directly on the first floor, which is less than 300 yards from the famed Mona Lisa.
Culture Minister Dati told French news outlet TF1 that surveillance footage of the theft showed the thieves entering "calmly" and smashing display cases containing the jewels. Dati said there was "no violence" during the heist, which she described as "very professional."
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 been unable to confirm whether the ladder was present for construction work or was placed by the thieves.
A tour guide told CNN that he heard what he described as “stomping” on the windows in the morning, shortly before being told by security to evacuate the museum.
Following the swift robbery, the thieves reportedly escaped on two Yamaha 'TMax' scooters—which have a powerful 560cc engine—and headed in the direction of a nearby highway.
Investigators are now studying the escape route used by the robbers in their attempt to find them.
Four thieves just pulled off a real-life movie scene at the Louvre- rolling up in a furniture lift truck, stealing Napoleon’s crown jewels in under ten minutes, and vanishing. A century after the Mona Lisa theft, France’s most famous museum once again proved it can’t guard its own history.
Yesterday, Sunday morning in Paris- sunlight over the Seine, croissants in hand, and four men casually pulling off what might be the most embarrassing museum robbery since the last Louvre robbery.
In less time than it takes to finish an espresso, a team of thieves rolled up to the Louvre in a truck-mounted lift, cut through a window like they were delivering Ikea furniture, and stole France’s crown jewels. The same ones that once sat on the heads of Napoleon’s empresses.
They weren’t armed commandos rappelling from a helicopter. They weren’t even subtle. They were guys in construction vests with power tools. And somehow, they made it into one of the most famous museums in the world- on a freaking Sunday morning- and out again before most people had logged into Instagram.
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At 9:30 a.m., right after the museum opened, the crew parked their lift truck against the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon, the glittering hall where the French crown jewels are kept. Two guys climbed into the basket, rode it up to a balcony, and sliced through a window.
They weren’t discreet. They used power tools. They threatened guards, smashed display cases, and grabbed eight priceless royal pieces- sapphire tiaras, emerald necklaces, "diamond brooches" all of them so recognizable they couldn’t be sold to anyone except a Bond villain.
They dropped one- the Crown of Empress Eugénie. It shattered on the ground like a bad omen for the entire French Republic.
Then they set part of the lift on fire (apparently for flair), hopped on scooters, and disappeared into Paris traffic.
By mid-morning, the Louvre was in full lockdown. The French justice minister went on radio and announced, “The French people all feel like they’ve been robbed.”
Yah, no shit, Gérald. You got robbed twice- once by the thieves and again by the museum’s security budget.
President Emmanuel Macron, still limping from protests and political chaos, called it “an attack on our heritage.” He vowed to “recover the works.”
Which is French for “we’ll hold a meeting and issue a statement.”
Meanwhile, the Culture and Interior Ministries scrambled to “assess security at all cultural institutions.” Which feels about a century too late, considering the Louvre’s track record reads like a blooper reel.
The French call it “patrimoine.” The rest of the world calls it “the Louvre getting dunked on again.”
Because this isn’t the first time. It’s not even the second. It’s a recurring subplot for these morons.
Let's look at the tale of the tape-
-1911: Vincenzo Peruggia, a handyman, stole the Mona Lisa. He didn’t hack lasers or dodge guards. He took it off the wall, put it under his smock, and walked out. The museum didn’t notice for an entire day.
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-1976: Three guys climbed scaffolding and stole King Charles X’s diamond-encrusted coronation sword. Still missing.
- 1983: A pair of 16th-century Italian armor pieces were taken. Recovered 38 years later.
- 2025: Four guys in work vests and scooters. Estimated time of operation: under ten minutes.
You’d think, after losing the most famous painting on Earth, the Louvre would have invested in more than a “we’ll get to it eventually” alarm system.
Within hours, the government called emergency meetings, shut the museum, and blamed “staffing shortages.” The culture minister admitted that “for 40 years, no attention was paid to securing these museums.”
Forty years. Are you fucking kidding me guys?
It's honestly shocking The Louvre doesn't get raided like a downtown Chicago department store once a week.
The museum's security union, of course, blamed cuts in security funding, layoffs, and "overcrowding."
If this happened in America, it’d be like someone waltzing into the Smithsonian, stealing Lincoln’s top hat, and rolling away on a Bird scooter.
If you turned this into a movie, critics would call it “unrealistic.” Who cuts through the Louvre’s window, robs the crown jewels, and escapes in traffic on scooters like they’re delivering Uber Eats?
It’s like Ocean’s Eleven but if Danny Ocean’s plan was “hope nobody’s paying attention.”
And perhaps the craziest part of this entire ting is that the thieves didn’t even bother with the Regent Diamond- the 140-carat, $60 million centerpiece of the collection.
They just didn’t get that far down the hallway. Either they ran out of time or had no idea what they were looking at. Either way, it’s the French equivalent of robbing a bank and leaving the vault open.
For a country that prides itself on enlightenment, revolution, and high culture, it might be time to accept that security is not the national forte.
French wine= Slightly overrated but still amazing.
French fashion = exquisite
French defense of priceless historical artifacts = rough