Thieves strike Louvre in brazen jewel heist as the world’s most visited museum shuts

PARIS AP In a brazen seven-minute strike thieves used a basket lift to reach the Louvre on Sunday morning and as tourists were already inside forced a window smashed display cases and fled with jewels of inestimable value France s interior minister commented The world s preponderance visited museum closed for the day as police sealed gates and ushered visitors out during the analysis A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum Tradition Minister Rachida Dati wrote on X The museum cited exceptional reasons for the closure No injuries were stated Around a m several intruders forced open a window stole jewels from vitrines and escaped on two-wheelers according to the Interior Ministry It explained forensic work is underway and a precise inventory of the stolen objects is being compiled adding that the items have inestimable historical value Dati and Nu ez were on site with museum leadership Video from the scene demonstrated confused tourists being ushered out of the glass pyramid and surrounding courtyards as officers shut the iron gates and closed nearby streets along the Seine Interior Minister Laurent Nu ez called it a major robbery saying the intruders entered from the outside using a basket lift He reported on France Inter radio that the heist took seven minutes and the thieves used a disc cutter to slice through the panes He announced it was manifestly a club that had done scouting The heist occurred in the Galerie d Apollon a vaulted hall in the Denon wing that displays part of the French Crown Jewels beneath a ceiling painted by King Louis XIV s court artist according to the ministry French daily Le Parisien communicated the thieves entered via the Seine-facing facade where construction is underway and used a freight elevator to reach the gallery After latest windows they reportedly took nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress One stolen jewel was later determined outside the museum the paper revealed adding that the item was assumed to be Empress Eug nie s crown and that it had been broken Precaution and staffing at the Louvre in the spotlight Defense around marquee works remains tight The Mona Lisa is protected by bulletproof glass and a custom high-tech display system as part of broader anti-theft measures across the museum Staffing and protection have been flashpoints at the Louvre The museum delayed opening during a June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing Unions have warned that mass tourism strains safeguard and visitor management It wasn t directly clear whether staffing levels played any role in Sunday s theft In January President Emmanuel Macron publicized a decadelong Louvre New Renaissance plan roughly million to modernize infrastructure ease crowding and give the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece its own dedicated gallery by but workers say relief has been slow to reach the floor Other European museums have been robbed The theft less than half an hour after doors opened echoes other latest European museum raids In thieves smashed vitrines in Dresden s Green Vault and carried off diamond-studded royal jewels worth hundreds of millions of euros In burglars at Berlin s Bode Museum stole a -kilogram -pound solid-gold coin In a lone intruder slipped into Paris s Museum of Modern Art and escaped with five paintings including a Picasso The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies The largest part famous came in when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat It was recovered two years later in Florence an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci s portrait the world s best-known artwork Home to more than works spanning antiquities sculpture and painting from Mesopotamia Egypt and the classical world to European masters the Louvre s star attractions include the Mona Lisa the Venus de Milo and the Winged Preeminence of Samothrace The museum can draw up to visitors a day