France's Louvre Museum in Paris, regarded as one of the world's greatest museums, was hit by professional thieves in broad daylight, shocking French society. At the time tourists were entering shortly after opening, the perpetrators stole and fled with royal jewels described as "priceless" in just seven minutes. It is the worst security disaster in 113 years since the 1911 Monalisa theft. The incident occurred less than a year after President Emmanuel Macron announced an €800 million (about 1.15 trillion won) plan to renovate the Louvre.
According to AFP and Le Monde, the incident occurred around 9:30 a.m. on the 19th (local time). It was 30 minutes after the museum opened. According to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, the thieves, believed to number three to four, moved like an experienced veteran team. Some disguised themselves by wearing yellow vests like construction workers.
The method was audacious. They used a furniture hoist lift (basket lift) loaded on a truck against the museum's exterior wall facing the Seine. Coincidentally, this area is currently under renovation, and British broadcaster Sky News reported it was likely a security blind spot. The perpetrators reached the first-floor balcony by lift, then forced open a window of the Apollo Gallery using a grinder, a small chainsaw, and other tools to break in.
It took just seven minutes from entry to escape. A witness told local outlet TF1 that "it took only 30 seconds for two men to get on the lift and smash the window to get in." They fled the scene on a prearranged motorcycle and a Yamaha TMAX scooter. The crime scene was just 800 meters from the Paris police headquarters.
The thieves targeted two display cases in the Apollo Gallery. The Apollo Gallery is a lavish space that Louis XIV used as a model for the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. French royal jewels are exhibited there. According to the Louvre's website, the most valuable pieces in this gallery are three diamonds known as the Regent, the Sancy, and the Hortensia. Among them, the 140-carat Regent, discovered in India in 1698, was known as the largest diamond in the world at the time. Fortunately, the three major diamonds are believed not to have been stolen.
The French Ministry of Culture said a total of eight items were stolen, while local outlet Le Parisien reported nine. The stolen items included an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave to Empress Marie Louise. They are, literally, "priceless" heritage.
During the escape, one crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of 19th-century Napoleon III, was found damaged near the museum. The crown is a lavish artifact adorned with 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds. Culture Minister Rachida Dati said the recovered item is being appraised.
According to French media, this Louvre theft is the largest in 114 years since the 1911 disappearance of the Monalisa. In the 1911 Monalisa disappearance, the work was returned only after the perpetrator, Vincenzo Peruggia, was arrested two years later. Beyond that case, the coronation sword of Charles X was stolen in 1976, a Renoir painting in 1990, and a Camille Corot painting in 1998, all from the Louvre. Two Renaissance-era armors that disappeared in 1983 were dramatically recovered in 2021, 38 years later.
The Louvre disaster comes as French museums have been repeatedly targeted. In September, a gold sample worth €600,000 (about 860 million won) was stolen from the Paris Museum of Natural History, and three Chinese porcelains valued at €6.5 million (about 9.4 billion won) were taken from the National Museum of Ceramics in Limoges. In November last year, robbers armed with axes broke into the Cognac Museum in Paris in broad daylight.
France's Culture Minister Rachida Dati said in a TF1 interview that "museum security is not a problem that arose yesterday or today," adding, "for 40 years, no one paid attention to the security of these major museums." Dati emphasized that "museums must adapt to new forms of crime, namely organized crime."
Chronic shortages of management staff are also cited as a cause. The Louvre receives up to 30,000 visitors a day and nearly 9 million a year (as of 2023). The staff union has consistently warned that mass tourism is exacerbating chronic staffing shortages and worsening security. There are too many visitors and not enough staff to monitor them, critics say.