Louvre Heist Worth $100 Million Sparks Security Row, Museum Director Summoned To Senate

Jewels worth more than $100 million were stolen from Paris’s Louvre Museum in a daring daylight heist, French prosecutors said Tuesday, as the museum’s director prepares to face lawmakers over mounting security concerns.

The theft, which lasted just seven minutes on Sunday, saw four suspects break into the museum’s Apollo Gallery using a truck-mounted ladder and cutting tools before fleeing on scooters. Among the stolen items were eight priceless royal jewels, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon I to Empress Marie-Louise and a diamond-studded diadem that once belonged to Empress Eugénie.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the loss was valued at 88 million euros ($102 million), but called the greater damage “a loss to France’s

historical heritage.” She warned that melting down the jewels would only “destroy their true worth.”

The Louvre, closed since the weekend for investigation, is set to reopen Wednesday after frustrating thousands of visitors. Museum director Laurence des Cars, who has not made a public statement since the theft, will testify before the French Senate’s culture committee amid renewed criticism of the museum’s outdated security systems.

A 2019–2024 audit report revealed that only one-fourth of a wing was covered by video surveillance and cited a “worrying level of obsolescence.” Des Cars had earlier urged the culture ministry for urgent upgrades, warning of the museum’s vulnerability.

The Louvre has pushed back against criticism that the display cases were inadequate, saying they were installed in 2019 and marked “a significant improvement in security.”

The Louvre heist follows two other high-profile museum thefts in France last month — including the theft of $1.5 million in gold nuggets from Paris’s Natural History Museum and $7.6 million worth of artefacts from Limoges — highlighting the growing trend of organized crime targeting cultural institutions.