PARIS (AP) — In a minutes-long strike Sunday contained in the world’s most-visited museum, thieves rode a basket raise to the Louvre, pressured a window into the Galerie d’Apollon — whereas vacationers pressed shoulder-to-shoulder within the corridors — smashed show instances and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officers mentioned.
It was among the many highest-profile museum thefts in latest reminiscence and comes as Louvre staff have complained of employee and safety understaffing.
One object was later discovered outdoors the museum, in line with Tradition Minister Rachida Dati. French day by day Le Parisien reported it was the emerald-studded crown of Napoleon III’s spouse Empress Eugénie — gold, diamonds and sculpted eagles — recovered simply past the partitions, damaged.
The theft unfolded simply 250 meters (270 yards) from the Mona Lisa, in what Dati described as “a four-minute operation.” Nobody was harm.
Photographs from the scene confirmed confused vacationers being steered out of the glass pyramid and adjoining courtyards as officers closed close by streets alongside the Seine.
Additionally seen was a raise braced to the Seine-facing facade close to a building zone — a rare vulnerability at a palace-museum.
Kiran Ridley through Getty Photographs
A museum already below pressure
Round 9:30 a.m., a number of intruders pressured a window, minimize panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the vitrines, officers mentioned. Inside Minister Laurent Nuñez mentioned the crew entered from outdoors utilizing a basket raise.
The selection of goal compounded the shock. The vaulted Galerie d’Apollon within the Denon wing, capped by a ceiling painted for Louis XIV, shows a number of the French Crown Jewels. The thieves are believed to have approached through the riverfront facade, the place building is underway, used a freight elevator to achieve the corridor, took 9 items from a 23-item assortment linked to Napoleon and the Empress, and made off on motorbikes, in line with Le Parisien.
Daylight robberies throughout public hours are uncommon. Pulling one off contained in the Louvre — with guests current — ranks amongst Europe’s most audacious since Dresden’s Inexperienced Vault museum in 2019, and probably the most severe in France in additional than a decade.
It additionally collides with a deeper stress the Louvre has struggled to resolve: swelling crowds and stretched employees. The museum delayed opening throughout a June employees walkout over overcrowding and continual understaffing. Unions say mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates stress factors the place building zones, freight routes and customer flows meet.
Safety round marquee works stays tight — the Mona Lisa is behind bulletproof glass in a bespoke, climate-controlled case.
It’s unclear whether or not staffing ranges performed any function in Sunday’s breach.
The Louvre has a protracted historical past of thefts and tried robberies. Essentially the most well-known got here in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its body, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered two years later in Florence.
Immediately the previous royal palace holds a roll name of civilization: Leonardo’s Mona Lisa; the armless serenity of the Venus de Milo; the Winged Victory of Samothrace, wind-lashed on the Daru staircase; the Code of Hammurabi’s carved legal guidelines; Delacroix’s Liberty Main the Folks; Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. Greater than 33,000 works — from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to Europe’s masters — draw a day by day tide of as much as 30,000 guests at the same time as investigators now start to comb these gilded corridors for clues.
DIMITAR DILKOFF through Getty Photographs
Politics on the door
The heist spilled immediately into politics. Far-right chief Jordan Bardella used it to assault President Emmanuel Macron, weakened at house and dealing with a fractured parliament.
“The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture,” Bardella wrote on X. “This robbery, which allowed thieves to steal jewels from the French Crown, is an unbearable humiliation for our country. How far will the decay of the state go?”
The criticism lands as Macron touts a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan — about €700 million to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and provides the Mona Lisa a devoted gallery by 2031. For staff on the ground, the reduction has felt slower than the stress.
What we all know — and don’t
Forensic groups are analyzing the location of the crime and adjoining entry factors whereas a full stock is taken, authorities mentioned. Officers have described the haul as of “inestimable” historic worth.
Restoration might show tough. “It’s unlikely these jewels will ever be seen again,” mentioned Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds. “Professional crews often break down and re-cut large, recognizable stones to evade detection, effectively erasing their provenance.”
The Louvre closed for the remainder of Sunday as police sealed gates, cleared courtyards and shut close by streets alongside the Seine.
Key questions nonetheless unanswered are how many individuals took half within the theft and whether or not they had inside help, authorities mentioned. In accordance with French media, there have been 4 perpetrators: two dressed as building staff in yellow security vests on the raise, and two every on a scooter.
Investigators are reviewing CCTV from the Denon wing and the riverfront, inspecting the basket raise used to achieve the gallery and interviewing employees who had been on web site when the museum opened, authorities mentioned.
Related Press author Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
