{"id":243324,"date":"2025-10-22T10:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T10:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/243324\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T10:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T10:53:07","slug":"the-louvre-reopens-3-days-after-french-crown-jewel-heist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/243324\/","title":{"rendered":"The Louvre reopens 3 days after French crown jewel heist"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 The Louvre reopened on Wednesday to long lines beneath its landmark Paris glass pyramid, just three days after one of the highest-profile museum thefts<\/a> of the century<\/p>\n

The thieves slipped in and out of the famed museum \u2014 making off with eight pieces from France\u2019s Crown Jewels \u2014 a cultural wound that some officials compared to the burning of Notre-Dame cathedral<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n

The Sunday morning heist, which unfolded just 250 meters (270 yards) from the Mona Lisa, has has prompted a national reckoning and raised questions about the museum\u2019s newly proposed security measures.<\/p>\n

Crowds bunched at the barriers as they were being removed, a coda to frantic forensic work and staff briefings that had taken place. Inside, the scene of the crime \u2014 the Apollo Gallery housing the Crown Diamonds \u2014 stayed sealed, a folding screen closing off the doorway at the gallery\u2019s rotunda entrance. <\/p>\n

France acknowledges failings<\/p>\n

Authorities say the thieves spent less than four minutes inside the Louvre on Sunday morning: a freight lift was wheeled to the Seine-facing fa\u00e7ade, a window was forced open and two vitrines were smashed. <\/p>\n

Then came the getaway on motorbikes through central Paris. Alarms had gone off drawing agents to the gallery and forcing the intruders to bolt. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have failed,\u201d Justice Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin said, noting that the ability to plant a freight lift undetected on a public way projects \u201ca very negative image of France.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it reopened, the Louvre declined questions from The Associated Press to detail any reinforced protocols. It said no uniformed police were posted in the corridors. With school holidays swelling demand, the day was fully booked and access limited in places. <\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s opening followed a routine closer on Tuesday, a day when the museum is normally shut. <\/p>\n

The loot<\/p>\n

The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Am\u00e9lie and Hortense.<\/p>\n

They also made off with an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s second wife, as well as reliquary brooch. Empress Eug\u00e9nie\u2019s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch \u2014 an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship \u2014 were also part of the loot. <\/p>\n

One piece \u2014 the emerald-set imperial crown of Empress Eug\u00e9nie, with more than 1,300 diamonds \u2014 was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.<\/p>\n

Fears the jewels will be destroyed<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau valued the haul at about \u20ac88 million ($102 million), a \u201cspectacular\u201d figure that still fails to capture the works\u2019 historical weight. She warned the thieves would be unlikely to realize anything close to that sum if they pry out stones or melt the metals \u2014 a fate curators fear would pulverize centuries of meaning into anonymous gems for the black market. The jewels remain missing; no arrests have been announced.<\/p>\n

Beccuau said expert analyses are underway; four people have been identified as present at the scene, and roughly 100 investigators are mapping the crew and any accomplices. <\/p>\n

The heist has sharpened scrutiny of the museum\u2019s security and brought its president-director, Laurence des Cars, before the Senate\u2019s culture committee on Wednesday \u2014 though top officials have refused to remove her.<\/p>\n

Questions about Louvre\u2019s security overhaul<\/p>\n

All this comes after President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government announced new measure in January for the Louvre \u2014 complete with a new command post and expanded camera grid that the culture ministry says is being rolled out. <\/p>\n

It also raises hard questions, including whether Sunday\u2019s breach is tied to staffing levels, and how uniformly the upgrades in the overhaul are being applied.<\/p>\n

Protection for headline works is airtight \u2014 the Mona Lisa is behind bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled case \u2014 yet the break-in exposed seams elsewhere in a 33,000-object labyrinth. For many French, the contrast is a public embarrassment at the landmark.<\/p>\n

There is another raw nerve: the issue of swelling crowds and overstretched staff. <\/p>\n

A June staff walkout delayed opening over overcrowding and chronic understaffing<\/a>. Unions argue that mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, freight access and visitor flows intersect.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Louvre\u2019s other star attractions \u2014 from the Venus de Milo to the Winged Victory of Samothrace \u2014 were open again. But the cordoned-off vitrines in the Apollo Room, guarded and empty, told a different story: one of a breach measured not just in minutes and euros, but in the fragility of a nation\u2019s patrimony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 The Louvre reopened on Wednesday to long lines beneath its landmark Paris glass pyramid, just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,3071,229,5607,88,594,793,133549,133550,133551,4381,149,130880,130877,593,22148,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-243324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-emmanuel-macron","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-france","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-grald-darmanin","18":"tag-laure-beccuau","19":"tag-laurence-des-cars","20":"tag-law-enforcement","21":"tag-lifestyle","22":"tag-louvre-museum","23":"tag-mona-lisa","24":"tag-paris","25":"tag-theft","26":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}