Louvre museum closed after robbery, says France’s culture minister

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Updated October 19, 2025 — 9.16pm

Paris: France’s iconic Louvre museum was closed on Sunday due to a robbery, the country’s culture minister says.

Rachida Dati said on social media that no injuries were reported, but that an investigation has been opened. “A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum,” she wrote on X.

The Louvre said it was closed “for exceptional reasons,” offering no further details on the details of the heist.

The Paris-based Liberation newspaper reported that four people allegedly broke a first-floor window after the museum opened on Sunday. It reported that they “emptied two display cases before fleeing”.

The paper reported that CCTV was being examined, with initial reports suggesting thieves with a chainsaw used a goods lift on Quai François Mitterrand to reach the window.

The Galerie d’Apollon, where Sunday’s theft reportedly took place, includes the French crown jewels.

The gallery was the brainchild of King Louis XIV, who famously identified with the sun god Apollo. He commissioned the best painters, gilders and sculptors to work on the gallery, later using many of them to work at Versailles.

The French police and the Louvre Museum weren’t immediately available for comment.

French daily Le Parisien reported that nine pieces from the jewellery collection, including pieces from the Napoleonic era, were stolen.

A global symbol of French culture, the Louvre is one of the most heavily guarded places in the capital.

Despite its security, the Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous was in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat. It was recovered two years later in Florence – an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait the world’s best-known artwork.

In 1983, two Renaissance-era pieces of armour were stolen from the Louvre and only recovered nearly four decades later.

The museum’s collection also bears the legacy of Napoleonic-era looting that continues to spark restitution debates today.

The Louvre is home to more than 33,000 works spanning antiquities, sculpture and painting – from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to European masters. Its star attractions include the Mona Lisa, as well as the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

The museum draws up to 30,000 visitors a day.

AP, Bloomberg