On Sunday (19th October), a group of thieves wielding disc cutters and chainsaws entered the heavily-guarded Louvre Museum in Paris, France and stole priceless Napoleonic jewels. The movie-like heist took place within four minutes. The thieves disguised as construction workers, reports stated.
The theft was carried out just 250 meters (270 yards) from the Mona Lisa. The emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum. It, however, was found in a broken condition.
The thieves brought a crane to enter the palace-like museum. As per the officials, the crane stood against the Seine-facing façade and was later removed.
They walked into Louvre Museum at 9:30 a.m.
— Culture Explorer (@CultureExploreX) October 19, 2025
Used a crane. Smashed a window.
Stole the French crown jewels in 4 minutes.
No violence. Just precision.
If a world-famous museum can be robbed in broad daylight… what does that say about the guardians of culture? pic.twitter.com/cUn0DX9qnx
According to authorities, a group of robbers broke through a window at around 9:30 a.m., using a disc cutter to cut the panes, and proceeded directly to the glass display cases. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said that to get to the chamber housing the 23-item royal collection, the thieves used a basket lift to enter from outside via the riverfront façade.
The Regent, the Sancy, and the Hortensia were among the Crown Diamonds on show in the gilded Apollon Gallery, which was the thieves targeted.
Musée du Louvre / Jean-Gilles Berizzi
According to Nunez, the robbers left on motorcycles after smashing two display cases. Nobody was harmed. The burglars fled when alarms alerted Louvre agents to the room, but the heist had already been completed.
The eight objects stolen by the robbers included: a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a reliquary brooch; Empress Eugénie’s diadem; and her large corsage-bow brooch, a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble, AP reported.
“They deployed the freight elevator, securing the surroundings with construction cones, before accessing the second floor, in the Apollo gallery, by breaking the window with an angle grinder. Inside, they then smashed two display cases, ‘Napoleon jewels’ and ‘French crown jewels,’ using the angle grinder and stole numerous pieces of high-value jewelry,” the police said in a statement.
It must be recalled that back in 2022, a suspected climate activist dressed as an elderly woman tried to vandalise the Mona Lisa, one of the most famous and expensive paintings in the world.
