Louvre Heist: Masked Thieves Steal Nine Crown Jewels in Precision Paris Raid
Masked thieves armed with chainsaws and a furniture lift raided the Louvre’s Apollon Gallery, stealing nine royal jewels — including Empress Eugénie’s crown — before escaping on a scooter in a seven-minute operation.
Paris, Sunday morning — the Louvre’s glass pyramid glittered under weak autumn light as tourists queued for their first glimpse of the Mona Lisa. Then came the metallic buzz of a small chainsaw. Seven minutes later, one of the most audacious museum robberies in decades was complete.
According to investigators, three masked men arrived in a truck fitted with a mechanised lift — the kind used to move furniture into Parisian apartments. They extended the platform to a first-floor balcony of the Apollon Gallery, shattered a window, and slipped inside. Each carried a compact chainsaw and a backpack. They moved with the precision of craftsmen, not vandals.
Once in, they targeted two reinforced glass cases that housed France’s surviving crown jewels — the same gallery where Napoleon’s diadems and the diamond-studded crown of Empress Eugénie once caught the light. They smashed the casings, grabbed nine items, and escaped through the same window.
Police say the crew raced off on a waiting motor-scooter, weaving through the narrow streets along the Seine. One jewel — reportedly the damaged crown of Empress Eugénie — was recovered on the cobblestones outside. The piece, heavy with 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, had snapped in two during the flight.
Inside, the museum fell into chaos. American tourists Jim and Joan Carpenter were among those evacuated. “We were ready to see the Mona Lisa when guards swept us out,” Joan told reporters. “They said there were technical problems, but you could tell it was something else.”
Forensics teams cordoned off the south wing, combing the scene around a toppled ladder and lift truck. Police drones traced the suspects’ route toward the riverbank. Investigators now suspect the group is tied to a pan-European jewel theft ring that has struck galleries in Limoges and the Natural History Museum in Paris this year.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called the stolen items “of incalculable value,” saying they carried “the weight of France’s identity.” Culture Minister Rachida Dati described the heist as “calm, fast, professional — a blow to our collective heritage.”
The Louvre’s Apollon Gallery remains sealed, its velvet mounts bare under forensic light. Nine royal artifacts — centuries of monarchy condensed into gemstones and gold — are gone. Outside, the crowd that once came to marvel at the world’s beauty now stares at its absence.
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