French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed that the thieves who raided the Louvre in Paris on Sunday morning will be apprehended and the stolen treasures recovered.
“Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of the Paris prosecutor’s office,” he said in a statement on social media.
According to the culture ministry, eight “priceless” pieces of jewellery were stolen, including an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon once gave to his wife, Empress Marie Louise.
The thieves struck the Louvre in broad daylight, taking just seven minutes to seize some of France’s most valuable crown jewels, but dropped a gem-encrusted crown as they fled. Officials said the audacious heist, one of several to target French museums in recent months, forced the world’s most-visited museum — home to the Mona Lisa — to close temporarily.
President Macron reiterated online that “everything is being done” to catch the culprits and retrieve the stolen artefacts.
Outside the museum, soldiers patrolled the iconic glass pyramid while police cordoned off the area, keeping tourists and onlookers behind tape.
“It was like a Hollywood film,” said American tourist Talia Ocampo. “It was crazy — something we’ll never forget. We couldn’t go inside because there had been a robbery.”
The culture ministry confirmed that two high-security display cases in the Apollo Gallery, which houses France’s crown jewels, had been targeted. Eight items of immense cultural value were stolen, including the emerald-and-diamond necklace from Napoleon’s wife and the 19th-century crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.
Paris’s chief prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, told BFMTV that police were searching for a team of four thieves. She said they had threatened guards with angle grinders used to smash the display cases, while a 60-person investigative team had been deployed.
The robbers reportedly used a powered, extendable ladder — the type used to hoist furniture into buildings — to gain access to the gilded gallery. Empress Eugénie’s crown was recovered after the thieves dropped it during their escape. The museum’s website states that the crown is adorned with 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds.
Other stolen items included a necklace from Queen Marie Amélie’s sapphire collection, Queen Hortense’s jewellery, and a pair of emerald earrings once owned by Marie Louise.
Sources close to the investigation said the robbers arrived between 9:30 and 9:40 a.m., shortly after the museum opened to visitors. They reportedly arrived on scooters, equipped with angle grinders, and used the furniture hoist to climb into the building.
A witness named Samir told TF1 television that he saw two men “get on the hoist, break the window, and enter — it took 30 seconds.” He added that four men fled on scooters, prompting him to alert the police.
The robbery occurred just 800 metres from Paris police headquarters. Louvre management said the museum had been closed “to preserve traces and clues for the investigation.”
The theft sparked outrage among French politicians. Far-right National Rally leader Jordan Bardella called it “an unbearable humiliation for our country,” while Republican leader Laurent Wauquiez declared, “France has been robbed. We must protect what is most precious to us — our history.”
Once the seat of French kings until Louis XIV moved to Versailles in the late 17th century, the Louvre remains the world’s most visited museum, drawing nine million visitors last year.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, who previously served as Paris’s police chief, acknowledged “a great vulnerability” in museum security across France.
Recent months have seen several high-profile thefts, including the theft of gold samples worth €600,000 from Paris’s Natural History Museum and artefacts valued at €6.5 million from a museum in Limoges.
Thefts at the Louvre are far rarer. A painting by Camille Corot vanished in 1998 and has never been recovered. In 1911, an Italian worker famously stole the Mona Lisa, which was later retrieved and now sits behind reinforced glass.
In January, Macron pledged that the Louvre would undergo a major redesign, including enhanced security measures — efforts he reaffirmed on Sunday following the theft.