Chainsaw-wielding thieves use basket lift to steal ‘priceless’ jewelry from Louvre

PARIS, France— Chainsaw-wielding robbers broke into the Louvre in Paris on Sunday and made away with jewelry, several sources said, causing the world’s most-visited museum to close for the day.

“A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati wrote on X on Sunday.

Dati said she was on site and that an investigation was underway.

French daily Le Parisien reported that the criminals entered the museum and former palace via the Seine-facing facade, where construction is underway.

After breaking windows, they reportedly stole “nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress,” the newspaper added.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said three of four thieves had used a basket lift from the construction site to steal “priceless” goods from the museum’s “Gallerie d’Apollon” (“Apollo’s Gallery”).

A police source said the robbers had drawn up on a scooter armed with angle grinders before using the lift.

The Louvre said it would close “for exceptional reasons,” offering no further details on the heist. No injuries were reported.

Later Sunday, Dati said one of the jewelry pieces stolen from the museum had been found nearby.

“One of the jewelry items was found near the Louvre,” she told the TF1 television broadcaster.

Latest in long history of thefts from Louvre

The brazen robbery happened just 800 meters (yards) from Paris police headquarters.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation and the value of the loot was still being estimated.

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 armor 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 Apollo Gallery displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels.

The museum can draw up to 30,000 visitors a day.

French President Emmanuel Macron in January pledged the Louvre would be “redesigned, restored and enlarged” after its director voiced alarm about dire conditions inside.

He said he hoped that the works could help increase the annual number of visitors to 12 million.