Louvre heist: Royal jewels worth €88m stolen in Paris robbery
The Louvre Museum reopened on Wednesday, 22 October, three days after a heist in which royal jewels valued at €88m were stolen, France24 reports.
“The Louvre curator estimated the damage at 88 million euros, the equivalent of $102m,” confirmed Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
Ms Beccuau said four people were involved in Sunday's robbery, and police are analysing fingerprints found at the scene.
"The people who stole these jewels will not earn 88 million euros, especially if they have the very poor idea of disassembling them. We can hope that they will think about this and not destroy them for no reason," the prosecutor added in an interview with RTL television.
According to Laure Beccuau, whose department is leading the investigation, approximately 100 investigators are involved in the search for the suspects and the jewels following the audacious theft at the world's most visited museum.
Meanwhile, the French Culture Minister declared that the security system installed at the Louvre functioned properly during the theft.
"It is a fact that the museum's security system did not fail. The security apparatus of the Louvre worked," Rachida Dati told members of the National Assembly, according to Euronews.
The museum's director, Laurence des Cars, is due to be questioned by a cultural committee of the French Senate, amid questions about security measures at the world's most visited museum. Ms Des Cars, who has led the museum since 2021, has made no public statement since the thieves made off with the royal jewels during a broad daylight robbery on Sunday, which lasted only seven minutes.
A report by the French Court of Audit (Cour des Comptes), covering the period 2019–2024, had already signaled persistent delays in modernising the museum's security systems. Only a quarter of one wing of the museum was covered by CCTV cameras, and in January, director Laurence des Cars had warned the Ministry of Culture about a "worrying level of dilapidation" and the urgent need for investment in infrastructure.
According to the investigation, the thieves used a truck with an extendable ladder - known as a furniture lift - parked beneath the Apollo Gallery. They entered through a window and then smashed the display cases, stealing eight pieces of jewellery.
The museum on Tuesday rejected criticism that the display cases protecting the jewels were fragile, stating that they were installed in 2019 and represented "a considerable security improvement."
The Louvre has nearly 73,000 sq m of exhibition space and houses over 35,000 works of art, including Leonardo da Vinci’s famous "Mona Lisa." More than 30,000 visitors pass through its doors every day.
The Louvre robbery comes after a series of similar attacks on other cultural institutions. Last month, the National Museum of Natural History in Paris was looted, with thieves taking gold nuggets valued at over $1.5m. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was later detained in Spain while attempting to sell nearly a kilogram of melted gold from that theft. In September, two plates and a vase valued at $7.6m were also stolen from a museum in Limoges.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
