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In a minute-long heist at the world’s most visited museum, ski-masked thieves scaled the Louvre’s façade with a crane, forced in a window, smashed display cases and made off with priceless Napoleonic jewels, authorities said.
The daytime robbery occurred about 30 minutes after opening on Sunday, Paris time, while visitors were inside. The incident, among the most high-profile museum thefts in living memory, follows internal complaints that crowds and understaffing strained security.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the thieves broke two storefronts and escaped on motorcycles. No one was injured. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to flee, but the theft had already been committed. “This is a massive robbery,” Nunez said.
The theft took place just 250 meters from Leonardo da Vinci’s house Mona LisaWhat Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as a professional “four-minute operation”.
A French Forensic Officer examines the cut-out window and balcony of a gallery in the Louvre Museum, which was the scene of a robbery at the world-famous museum earlier in the day.Credit: Getty Images
Speaking to TF1, Dati said, “We saw some images: They do not target people, they calmly enter within four minutes, smash the shop windows, take their loot and leave. There is no violence, very professional.”
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said thieves broke into the Galerie d’Apollon building and made off with eight priceless objects.
According to authorities, eight objects were seized: a sapphire tiara, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; Emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, the second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte; a reliquary brooch; Empress Eugénie’s crown; and a large flower bow brooch – a valuable imperial ensemble of the 19th century.
AP, Bloomberg, Reuters
