Louvre Crown Jewels Heist and Museum Security Challenges
On October 19 at 9:30 a.m., a group pretending to be construction workers broke into the Louvre Museum's Gallery of Apollo. They smashed a window and opened display cases to steal eight of France's Crown Jewels. Among these were the stunning bow brooch of Empress Eugénie, featuring over 2,500 diamonds, her exquisite pearl-and-diamond tiara, and sapphire treasures from Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense. Despite the alarms going off, the guards couldn't catch the thieves. This led to Louvre director Laurence des Cars resigning on February 24. Major art thefts, while rare, leave a significant mark, similar to the infamous 1990 heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where 13 masterpieces went missing. Additionally, just four days earlier, over 1,000 items were stolen from an Oakland Museum storage facility.
Key facts
- Louvre Museum robbery occurred October 19 at 9:30 a.m.
- Eight Crown Jewels of France were stolen
- Thieves disguised as construction workers broke Gallery of Apollo window
- Stolen items included Empress Eugénie's bow brooch with 2,500+ diamonds
- Louvre director Laurence des Cars resigned February 24 after scandal
- 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery involved 13 stolen masterpieces
- Four days before Louvre theft, Oakland Museum of California lost 1,000+ objects
- Oakland theft included Native American baskets and daguerreotypes
Entities
Artists
- Vermeer
- Rembrandt
- Degas
Institutions
- Louvre Museum
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
- Oakland Museum of California
- The New York Times
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Boston
- United States
- Oakland
- California