Thieves Steal $102 Million Worth Of Crown Jewels From Louvre Museum In Paris As Manhunt Continues

Jewelry worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million) was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, according to French prosecutors, as authorities intensify their search for the historic treasures.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told a French radio station that the valuation came from the museum’s curator. While the monetary value is enormous, Beccuau stressed that the cultural loss caused by the theft is far greater.

Roughly 100 investigators are involved in tracking down those responsible for the heist, which targeted artifacts from the French crown jewels dating back to the Napoleonic era. Although experts doubt the chances of recovering the pieces, Beccuau noted that dismantling or melting the items would make it difficult for the thieves to profit from their full value.

The Louvre remained closed on Tuesday but plans to reopen Wednesday, except for the Apollo Gallery, which will stay shut.

The thieves accessed the Apollo Gallery using a ladder mounted on a truck. Equipped with tools such as an angle grinder and blowtorch, they broke into two secure display cases.

Authorities said the operation was executed with remarkable speed: two men wearing yellow vests smashed a window at 9:34 a.m. and fled on scooters at 9:38 a.m., completing the heist in just seven minutes.

Among the stolen pieces were a diamond and sapphire tiara and necklace once worn by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense. The tiara alone was adorned with 24 Ceylon sapphires and 1,083 detachable diamonds. Also taken was an emerald necklace and earring set gifted by Napoleon to Marie-Louise of Austria in March 1810, featuring 32 emeralds and 1,138 diamonds. Eight of the nine stolen items remain missing.

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin admitted the theft revealed serious lapses in museum security, stating, “What is certain is that we have failed,” adding that the entire country shares in the sense of loss.

Investigators are examining an abandoned truck for fingerprints and DNA, a process slowed by the need to build a protective tent for fuming. One getaway scooter and a helmet believed to belong to one of the thieves were also recovered on Tuesday.

Officials remain doubtful about retrieving the jewelry. Natalie Goulet, a centrist French senator, said the pieces are likely “gone forever,” suggesting they may have been smuggled abroad to be dismantled and sold through organized crime networks.

Christopher Marinello, founder of Art Recovery International, warned that criminals often melt metals or recut gemstones for quick profit, destroying the pieces’ historical significance in the process.