The Louvre Museum in Paris, France is one of the most famous buildings on Earth. Housing 500,000 objects and 35,000 works of art, the Louvre is both the largest and most visited museum in the world.
On October 19, 2025, the Louvre was robbed of millions of dollars worth of precious jewelry. Shockingly, the robbery took place in the middle of the day while the museum was open to the public. The group of four thieves disguised themselves with orange and yellow vests to appear as construction workers. Eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels valued at €88 million were stolen in the robbery, and it was the first art robbery at the Louvre since 1998.
The robbery of the Louvre is not an isolated incident, as multiple other French museums have had artifacts stolen in recent years. Last month saw the National Museum of Natural History robbed of gold worth €600,000 and the Adrien Dubouché Museum lose three ancient porcelain figures deemed as national treasures. Many labour unions throughout France pointed a finger at security staff reductions in the Louvre.
In response to the theft, museum director Laurence des Cars acknowledged shortcomings in museum security when speaking to the Senate’s Committee on Culture, and revealed that she offered to resign as director but her offer was declined. President Emmanuel Macron condemned the robbery as “an attack on heritage that we cherish because it is our history.”
Days after the robbery, Interior minister Laurent Nuñez proclaimed that more than 100 investigators were assigned to the case. CCTV footage revealed a truck parked next to the museum and a furniture lift that granted the thieves access to a first-storey balcony. Once entering the museum, the robbers used box cutters to break a window into the Galerie d’Apollon. Upon entry, they broke two glass display cases and took nine pieces of jewelry. During their exit, the thieves dropped a crown, but they escaped with eight other valuables in less than eight minutes.
On October 25, two suspects were arrested in connection to the robbery. Investigators claimed they matched DNA evidence recovered from a helmet at the scene of the theft to one of the suspects. One suspect was caught at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris while trying to board a flight to Algeria, and the other was attempting to flee to Mali. Two other suspects are still wanted, and authorities worry that the jewels have already been destroyed to prevent being traced back to the museum.
When asked about the robbery, SHS French teacher Madame Wagner said “The reality is that the Louvre has experienced numerous thefts throughout the decades. The most famous of course being the La Jaconde or as we know her the Mona Lisa, in the early 1900s. Fortunately, she was recovered. However, there have been many artifacts still missing even to this day. The French, of course, are outraged. Crown jewels were taken and probably disassembled in order to sell or move them. That is heartbreaking. It is their history. I hope if they are not found, they will remain whole, intact and hidden in some secret personal vault that one day will find its way back to the Louvre.”
