World-famous Louvre museum in Paris is closed after gang steal jewellery worth millions

The world-famous Louvre museum in Paris has closed after a gang stole jewellery worth millions. 

The gang swiped jewellery once belonging to Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte, leading to its closure on Sunday.

Rachida Dati, France’s Culture Minister, said: ‘I am on site alongside the museum staff and the police.’

She said a criminal enquiry had been launched, and that detectives were liaising with museum staff.

According to Ms Dati, nobody was hurt during the raids, while a Louvre spokesman confirmed the museum was shut ‘for exceptional reasons’.

Police sources meanwhile told Le Parisien that ‘the criminals gained access to the building on the Seine River side’, where construction work is underway.

‘They used a freight elevator that leads directly to the targeted room,’ they said. 

‘After breaking windows, two men entered, stealing nine pieces from Napoleon and the Empress’s jewelry collection – a necklace, a brooch, and more.’

After being crowned Emperor and Empress of France in 1804, Napoleon and Josephine amassed one of the most impressive jewellery collections ever.

Many of the pieces were stolen from royalty during the French Revolution, while others were amassed from around the Empire.

There are regular high end art thefts in Paris, including at the Louvre.

The most infamous came in 1911 when Leonardo Da Vinci’s 16th Century masterpiece Mona Lisa was taken, causing an international outcry.

Vincenzo Peruggia, an employee of the world’s most visited art museum, hid in a cupboard overnight to take the painting.

It was recovered two years later when he tried to sell it to an antiques dealer in Florence, Italy.

The latest raid comes despite authorities regularly pledging to improve security at the numerous galleries across the city.

Axe-wielding thieves targeted an exhibition of miniature objects at the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris on November 20, 2024.

The gang raided the art museum over the weekend taking jewellery once belonging to Napoleon, pictured left in a painting circa 1800, and Josephine Bonaparte, centre

Among their haul were seven highly prized snuffboxes, including two loaned by the British Crown.

The daytime raid led to an insurance payout of more than £3 million to the Royal Collection Trust.

In 2017, three art thieves were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for stealing five masterpieces worth almost £100m from the Paris Museum of Modern Art.

A burglary in May 2010 saw works by Picasso and Matisse disappearing.