On the morning of 19 October 2025 four people used a truck-mounted lift to reach a window of the Louvre's Galerie d'Apollon in Paris and took eight pieces of the French crown jewels, valued by the Paris prosecutor at 88 million euros. Four men and one woman have been placed under formal investigation, none has been tried and all are presumed innocent. The jewels have not been found, and official reviews found long-standing weaknesses in the museum's exterior security.
As of 31 October 2026 the eight jewels had not been recovered and were listed in Interpol's database of stolen works, according to AFP. Four men are in pre-trial detention under formal investigation for organised gang theft and criminal conspiracy, the person two of them describe as a sponsor has not been identified, and no trial date has been set.
According to an AP timeline, the thieves arranged an appointment with the owner of a truck fitted with a basket lift and left with the vehicle, using threats but no violence. The owner's company filed a complaint in the town of Louvres, north of Paris.
Half an hour after the museum opened, people dressed as workers parked the lift truck on the pavement by the Seine and set out traffic cones, according to the AP timeline. Two of them rose to a balcony and entered through a window of the Galerie d'Apollon.
The two entered the Galerie d'Apollon and an alarm went off in the security control room, according to the AP timeline. The culture ministry said alarms on the gallery's exterior window and on two display cases were triggered.
The intruders cut into two display cases with disc cutters, according to the AP timeline. Staff moved visitors out and a museum manager called the nearby police station. At 9:36 a control room team leader pressed an alert button linked to Paris police headquarters, and at 9:37 staff were told to close the doors.
The two left through the same window and joined two others waiting on scooters, according to the AP timeline. The culture ministry said a museum agent stopped an attempt to set the truck on fire, that equipment was left behind and that no visitor or staff member was hurt.
Culture Minister Rachida Dati announced on social media that a robbery had taken place at the opening of the Louvre, according to the AP timeline.
The culture ministry said eight objects were taken: a tiara, necklace and single earring from the sapphire set of Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, an emerald necklace and pair of earrings from the set of Marie-Louise, the so-called reliquary brooch, and Empress Eugénie's tiara and large corsage bow brooch. The crown of Empress Eugénie was dropped and found. An investigation for organised gang theft and criminal conspiracy was opened under the Paris prosecutor.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told RTL radio that a museum curator estimated the value of the stolen pieces at 88 million euros, about $102 million. She said the thieves would not obtain anything comparable by taking the stones apart and selling them.
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Al Jazeera and APLaurence des Cars told the Senate culture committee that camera coverage of the building's outer walls was highly insufficient, The Daily Beast reported, and Hyperallergic reported that a perimeter camera was pointing away from the window used by the thieves. She said the gallery alarm went off at once and the thieves left less than four minutes after the first alarm, according to Public Sénat. She said she had offered to resign and that the offer was refused, and she proposed a police post inside the museum.
The Louvre reopened to visitors. Beccuau said about 100 investigators were on the case, with forensic teams studying surveillance footage and about 150 samples, according to AP.
Police detained two men on the evening of Saturday 25 October, AFP and AP reported. Prosecutors said a 34-year-old Algerian national living in France was stopped at Charles de Gaulle airport before a flight to Algeria, and a 39-year-old was arrested at his home in Aubervilliers.
The two men were mis en examen, meaning formally placed under investigation by a judge, for organised gang theft and criminal conspiracy, and held in pre-trial detention. Beccuau said they had partially admitted taking part and that DNA from the 39-year-old was found on a display case. They have not been tried and are presumed innocent.
Paris police prefect Patrice Faure told senators that police were first alerted by a cyclist outside rather than by Louvre alarms, that parts of the museum's video network were still analogue, and that its authorisation to operate cameras had expired in July, AP reported.
Al Jazeera and APPolice detained five more people in and around Paris, mainly in Seine-Saint-Denis, AFP reported. Beccuau said one was a main suspect linked by DNA to the theft and believed to be one of the four thieves.
Rachida Dati said on TF1 that the administrative inquiry she ordered found a chronic underestimation of intrusion and theft risk, under-equipped systems, unsuitable governance and outdated protocols. She promised anti-intrusion devices, mainly outside the building, and anti-ramming barriers before the end of the year, Public Sénat reported.
A 37-year-old man, alleged to be one of the four thieves, was mis en examen for organised gang theft and criminal conspiracy, and a 38-year-old woman for complicity, NPR and AFP reported. Both deny involvement and both were placed in pre-trial detention, according to Euronews. On 12 November an appeals court chamber released the woman under judicial supervision, AFP and Reuters reported. The three other people detained on 29 October were freed without charge.
A court in Bobigny postponed to April the trial of the 39-year-old suspect, identified to AP by a judicial official as Abdoulaye N., on minor charges from 2019 unrelated to the Louvre, citing media attention. His lawyer Maxime Cavaillé said the defence would be vigilant about the presumption of innocence.
Associated Press (via PBS NewsHour)The Cour des comptes, in a report prepared before the theft, said only 39 percent of rooms had cameras in 2024 and that security upgrades would not be finished until 2032, Reuters reported. It said the museum spent 105 million euros of its own resources on acquisitions over eight years while committing about 3 million euros to its security plan, according to Public Sénat.
Le Monde reported that a 2018 security audit by the jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels, commissioned by the Louvre, identified the quayside window of the Galerie d'Apollon as a major weak point and warned that criminals could use a lift to reach it, as relayed by Public Sénat. Des Cars later told senators she learned of the report only after the theft.
A 39-year-old man was arrested at a construction site in Laval, in western France, according to a source close to the case cited by AFP.
Beccuau said the man, who has six previous convictions, is thought to be the fourth member of the team and was mis en examen for organised gang theft and criminal conspiracy, AP and AFP reported. Her statement did not say what role he is alleged to have played. He has not been tried and is presumed innocent.
Noël Corbin of the culture inspectorate and Pascal Mignerey of the ministry's security mission told senators that exterior protection failed, only one of two nearby cameras worked and a window grille removed in 2003 was never refitted. They said the display cases held for nearly three minutes, and that audits from 2017 and 2019 were unknown to the leadership that arrived in 2021, Public Sénat reported.
The culture ministry asked Philippe Jost, head of the public body rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris, to propose changes to strengthen the Louvre, with first recommendations due at the end of February 2026.
At a second hearing des Cars said she would have liked to move faster and acknowledged disorganisation in retrieving documents after the theft. She said the window grille would be refitted before Christmas and listed 100 extra perimeter cameras and a mobile police post among urgent measures, according to Public Sénat. She said the security plan's budget was being raised from 50 million to 80 million euros.
The National Assembly's culture and education committee, given investigative powers on 5 December 2025, named Alexis Corbière as rapporteur for a six-month inquiry into heritage protection and museum security.
The Louvre said the dropped crown had kept its near integrity and would be reshaped rather than rebuilt. It reported one of eight gold eagles and about ten small diamonds missing, with all 56 emeralds present, according to Artdaily. Five jewellery houses were invited to support the restoration.
President Emmanuel Macron accepted the resignation of Laurence des Cars, his office said, according to AP and Reuters. She had offered to step down after the theft and been refused. The National reported she would take on a role linked to France's G7 presidency.
France appointed Christophe Leribault, head of the Palace of Versailles, to run the Louvre, Reuters reported. The culture ministry said his priority would be to strengthen the safety and security of the building.
The National Assembly culture committee examined its report on heritage protection and museum security, which said the theft was not an isolated incident but a systemic failure and that clear findings from 2017 drew no real response. It made 40 recommendations, including mandatory security audits reported to the ministry.
Two of the men told investigating judges they were recruited by an unnamed third party, whom they declined to identify, according to Le Monde as reported by Ocula. AFP reported that investigators do not accept their accounts of this sponsor. Their claims are unproven and they are presumed innocent.
Christophe Leribault told the Senate culture committee that extra cameras had been installed at weak points, that a new perimeter video system would be deployed from January 2027 and that a security coordinator post had been created. He put priority works on security, heating and air conditioning at 160 million euros, Public Sénat reported.
The gallery reopened empty about nine months after the theft. Leribault told Le Parisien that the collections once shown there would be kept in a windowless vault, Keystone-SDA and Adnkronos reported.
AFP reported that the jewels were last traced to an underground car park in Aubervilliers, where cameras filmed two helmeted suspects about an hour after the theft, and that a key found by investigators led to a storage unit in La Courneuve holding angle grinders and gold-testing equipment. Two suspects deny involvement and two admit the facts but say they do not know where the jewels are, 6Médias reported.
A year after the theft four main suspects were in jail awaiting trial and none of the eight pieces had been found, AFP reported. The jewels remain listed in Interpol's database of stolen works, and no trial date has been announced.
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Keystone-SDA (via blue News) · bluewin.ch Euronews · euronews.comLast updated 31 October 2026. Spotted an error? See corrections. Every event links to the record it comes from. Allegations are attributed to whoever made them.