The Louvre reopened on Wednesday to long lines beneath its landmark Paris glass pyramid, three days after one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century. The thieves slipped in and out of the famed museum—making off with eight pieces from France's Crown Jewels—a cultural wound that some officials compared to the burning of Notre-Dame cathedral in 2019. The Sunday morning heist, which unfolded just 270 yards from the Mona Lisa, has has prompted a national reckoning and raised questions about the museum's newly proposed security measures. Crowds bunched at the barriers as they were being removed, a coda to frantic forensic work and staff briefings that had taken place. Inside, the scene of the crime—the Apollo Gallery housing the Crown Diamonds—stayed sealed, reports the AP.
Authorities say the thieves spent less than four minutes inside the Louvre: a freight lift was wheeled to the Seine-facing façade, a window was forced open and two vitrines were smashed. Then came the getaway on motorbikes through central Paris. Alarms had gone off drawing agents to the gallery and forcing the intruders to bolt. "We have failed," Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said, noting that the ability to plant a freight lift undetected on a public way projects "a very negative image of France." As it reopened, the Louvre declined to detail any reinforced protocols. It said no uniformed police were posted in the corridors.
The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace, and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. They also made off with an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte's second wife, as well as reliquary brooch. One piece—the emerald-set imperial crown of Empress Eugénie, with more than 1,300 diamonds—was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.
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Prosecutor Laure Beccuau valued the haul at about $102 million, a "spectacular" figure that still fails to capture the works' historical weight. She warned the thieves would be unlikely to realize anything close to that sum if they pry out stones or melt the metals—a fate curators fear would pulverize centuries of meaning into anonymous gems for the black market. Beccuau said expert analyses are underway; four people have been identified as present at the scene, and roughly 100 investigators are mapping the crew and any accomplices.
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