Getty/The Louvre Collection
Seven minutes is all it took for an organised gang to take off with millions of dollars worth of treasures from the internationally renowned Musée du Louvre in Paris.
The looted items were among some of the most culturally and historically significant jewels from France.
The country is still reeling from the scene which would have looked more at home within a Hollywood blockbuster.
Here is everything you need to know about the brazen daylight robbery…
Have the Louvre robbers been caught?
A massive manhunt that involved more than 100 officers was launched to catch the thieves.
A major breakthrough in the case came on October 29 when two suspects “partially admitted” their involvement in the robbery.
The confession came after French police took two suspects into custody on October 25 who were believed to be involved in the heist.
One of the alleged offenders was stopped at Charles de Gaulle airport where he was trying to catch a flight to Algeria.
French prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the two men in detention were suspected of breaking into the museum through an upstairs window, while two accomplices waited on the street below.
“Both have partially admitted their involvement to investigators,” she told a press conference.
Both of the suspects were known to police. DNA found at the scene on gloves, a hi-vis vest, a motorbike helmet, angle grinders and a walkie-talkie helped to identify the men.
The arrests came after reports emerged that the robbers may have had help from inside the museum.
Addressing this, Beccuau said there was “no evidence at this stage”.
“The jewels are not yet in our possession. But I want to remain hopeful that they will be found and returned to the Louvre Museum,” she said.
What happened during the Louvre heist?
Four thieves struck the former royal palace, now a museum, which had been considered one of the most secure places in the world.
The group arrived in a truck and on motorcycles at 9:30 a.m. on October 19, 2025, using a crane to access a window that they forced open to gain access to the Apollo Gallery.
The thieves wore high visibility clothing, posing as construction workers which allowed them to move around with tools, undetected until it was to late.
Shocked visitors watched on as glass display cases containing royal and Napoleonic jewels were cut open by two assailants with angle grinders and nine treasures were snatched.
The pair then rushed back to the street to join their partners, fleeing on their bikes.
“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.”
The raid had come just months after employees from the venue, which welcomes 30,000 visitors a day, went on strike warning of chronic understaffing and too few eyes on too many rooms.
As the clock ticked on the search, the director of the Louvre admitted the heist had been a “terrible failure”, blaming an outdated security system and offering to resign.
Security cameras did not cover all of the external walls of the Louvre and the only one within the Apollo Gallery was facing westwards, away from the balcony where the intruders forced their way in.
“We did not detect the thieves’ arrival early enough,” director Laurence des Cars told a committee of the French Senate. “The weakness of our perimeter protection is known.”
Security stopped the assailants from setting fire to their truck, which has led to the recovery of valuable DNA evidence which helped them pinpoint two suspects who were taken into custody.
How much was the jewelry stolen from the Louvre worth?
The loot included a diamond and emerald necklace set Emperor Napoleon I gave to his second wife, Marie Louise and a tiara worn by Empress Eugenie, who was the wife of Napoleon III.
The diamond and sapphire parure owned by Queen Marie-Amélie was also stolen.
A crown once belonging to France’s last Empress, Eugenie, was dropped in the confusion, bringing the stolen haul down to eight precious pieces.
“It’s worth several tens of millions,” Alexandre Giquello, president of the Drouot auction house, told Reuters of the piece that was recovered at the scene. “And it’s not, in my opinion, the most important item.”
While the items are considered priceless, Laure Beccuau, the French magistrate overseeing the case, was willing to put a dollar figure on them in an effort to try and save the jewels.
She placed the value at the equivalent of $157 million.
“The wrongdoers who took these gems will not earn [full amount] if they had the very bad idea of disassembling these jewels,” she said during a press conference.
“We can perhaps hope that they’ll think about this and won’t destroy these jewels without rhyme or reason.”
When was the last time the Louvre was robbed?
The theft occurred just 250 metres down the hall from where the Mona Lisa hangs on the wall.
The 16th-century painting by Leonardo da Vinci was also stolen from the museum by an Italian immigrant who worked there as a handyman in 1911.
It was found two years later when Vincenzo Peruggia tried to sell it to an art dealer.
Experts believe that police will have to work much quicker this time around to recover the stolen jewellery before the thieves attempt to sell the items, which would prove difficult to do with the pieces intact.
“The criminals are going to try to hide what they have just done and the way they hide it is by breaking up those jewels, by recutting those stones, by melting down the precious metals,” Christopher Marinello, the CEO and founder of Art Recovery International, told US ABC News.
“They are now doing that. And the police have a very short window to locate these thieves and try to recover these items.”
Have the Louvre robbers been caught?
There is a massive manhunt underway in France to catch the thieves, who remain on the run.
The raid had come just months after employees from the venue, which welcomes 30,000 visitors a day, went on strike warning of chronic understaffing and too few eyes on too many rooms.
As the clock ticked on the search, the director of the Louvre admitted the heist had been a “terrible failure”, blaming an outdated security system and offering to resign.
Security cameras did not cover all of the external walls of the Louvre and the only one within the Apollo Gallery was facing westwards, away from the balcony where the intruders forced their way in.
“We did not detect the thieves’ arrival early enough,” director Laurence des Cars told a committee of the French Senate. “The weakness of our perimeter protection is known.”
Security stopped the assailants from setting fire to their truck, which has led to the recovery of valuable DAN evidence which could help catch them.
What was stolen in the Louvre heist of 2025?
Diadem of Empress Eugenie
This spectacular tiara contains 212 pearls, 1,998 brilliant-cut diamonds and 992 rose-cut diamonds. It created in 1855 and was a gift from her husband, Napoleon III.
Emerald and diamond necklace
The glittering necklace was part of a set that Napoleon I gave to his second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria, as a wedding gift.
It is comprised of 32 emeralds and 1,138 diamonds arranged in intricate lozenge and pearl shapes.
Emerald and diamond earrings
These earrings were part of the set that Napoleon I gave to Marie-Louise.
At the time of its creation, there was also a matching a tiara.
Diamond bow brooch
Belonging to Empress Eugenie, the bow consists of 2,438 diamonds and 196 rose-cut stones.
It was originally part of a much larger diamond belt.
Reliquary Brooch
This diamond-encrusted reliquary brooch, unusual in that it does not have a space to house a sacred relic, was made for Empress Eugenie and served as a reminder of her Catholic faith.
Sapphire parure
The matching set consisted of a sapphire and diamond tiara, necklace and earrings. Dating back to the 1800s, it was worn by Queen Hortense, wife of Louis Bonaparte, and Queen Marie-Amélie, wife of Louis-Philippe I.
The tiara includes 24 sapphires and 1,083 diamonds. The necklace features eight sapphires encircled by diamonds.
Thieves managed to drop one of the earrings during the heist.
