Loot at Louvre

PARIS, Oct 19, 2025  - Thieves broke into Paris' Louvre museum on Sunday, using a crane and smashing an upstairs window and stealing priceless jewellery from an area that houses the French crown jewels before escaping on motorbikes, the French government said.

The robbery is likely to raise awkward questions about security at the museum, where officials had already sounded the alarm about lack of investment at a world-famous site, home to artworks such as the Mona Lisa, that welcomed 8.7 million visitors in 2024.

The thieves struck at about 9.30 a.m. (0730 GMT) when the museum had already opened its doors to the public, and entered the Galerie d'Apollon building, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The robbery took around four minutes, Culture Minister Rachida Dati told TF1, and was carried out by professionals.

"We saw some footage: they don't target people, they enter calmly in four minutes, smash display cases, take their loot, and leave. No violence, very professional," Dati said.

She said one piece of jewellery had been recovered outside the museum, apparently dropped as the thieves made their escape.

Dati declined to say what the item was, but newspaper Le Parisien said it was believed to be the crown of Napoleon III's wife, Empress Eugénie. The item was broken, the newspaper said.

"It's worth several tens of millions of euros - just this crown. And it's not, in my opinion, the most important item," Drouot auction house President Alexandre Giquello told Reuters.

"Ideally, the perpetrators would realise the gravity of their crime and the dimension they've entered into, and return the items, since the jewels are completely unsellable," Giquello said.

"We’re touching on the history of France ... It’s a completely incomprehensible act, because the perpetrators will have every police force in the world on their tail, and in my opinion, they’ve put themselves in a very precarious situation," he added.

25 October 2025 Saturday 

According to a repor, nearly 2,000 antique gold and silver coins, some dating back more than 235 years, were stolen from the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot Muséum in Landres, north-eastern France.

The coins were a prized part of the city's private collection, discovered in 2011 during renovations of the building.

The robbery is believed to have happened on Sunday, October 19 or 20, just hours after the dramatic Louvre robbery. Museum staff discovered the break-in on Tuesday morning when they returned to their work.

Thieves forced entry through the main gate of the building, then broke a sliding glass door and smashed a display case containing the coins. The theft was described as "highly targeted," with only the antique coins stolen, suggesting the thieves had prior knowledge of the collection.

The coins, which date from 1790 to 1840, were valued at approximately €90,000 ($104,000). The historic and cultural value is considered far higher.

French law enforcement was alerted immediately. The museum remained closed to the public as a detailed inventory was compiled to aid the ongoing police investigation. 

The Landres coin robbery is part of a recent series of high-profile thefts targeting cultural institutions in France, including the Louvre in Paris, the Natural History Museum in Paris, and the National Porcelain Museum in Limoges.