It was a jaw-droppingly brazen crime that represented an ‘attack on a heritage that we cherish, since it is our history’, based on French President Emmanuel Macron.
4 raiders in high-vis gear, passing for construction employees, broke into the world’s biggest and most-visited museum in daylight and left with priceless treasures that after belonged to Napoleon.
And it only took them seven minutes.
No suspects have yet been caught following the robbery yesterday morning, which resulted within the lack of nine items from the Louvre collection.
There was widespread shock that a site housing countless world-famous artworks and artefacts might be so vulnerable – even from a gang described as a ‘highly organised commando unit’.
So how did they pull it off? Here’s what we all know up to now.
9.30am
Two thieves pulled up outside the Denon Wing of the Louvre within the centre of Paris, riding Yamaha T-Max scooters.
The wing is on the southern side of the museum, alongside the Seine.
Their goal was the Galerie d’Apollon, or Apollo Gallery, the ornate section created by ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV which holds a number of the museum’s most decadent items.
Just 120 metres away from the gallery is the Louvre’s most famous resident, the Mona Lisa – also the goal of a famous theft in 1911.
9.31am
The 2 scooters were parked behind the museum, and two more thieves arrived in a flatbed truck.
It was parked on the pavement next to a fence and below a balcony that prolonged from the south end of the gallery.
The museum had been open to the general public since 9am.
9.32am
The back of the flatbed truck had an extendable goods lift which may be used as a ladder.
With every little thing else in place, this was activated until it reached the balcony.
Dressed as construction employees, three of the robbers climbed as much as the primary floor while the fourth is assumed to have stayed at ground level.
9.33am
Two of the thieves proceeded to slice their way through the window using a handheld disc cutter.
Five security guards were on duty within the gallery once they entered, but all of them ran away once they were threatened with angle grinders and chainsaws.
A 3rd member of the gang remained on lookout on the window.
9.34am
The high-precision heist kicked off: the pair contained in the gallery were in a position to access two high-security display cases and access the jewellery inside.
Video footage from the scene shows a person in a yellow hi-vis vest and black clothing appearing to saw through the glass.
The museum’s alarm system was triggered, however the robbers carried on with their work regardless.
9.35am
Two tiaras, two necklaces and a brooch were among the many items taken from the cases – jewellery with links to French royalty and the Bonaparte dynasty.
Mysteriously, the robbers selected not to focus on the renowned Regent diamond just just a few feet away. It has been valued by Sotheby’s at around £45 million.
Laure Beccuau, the Paris Prosecutor, told news site BFM: ‘It’ll only be once they’re in custody and face investigators that we’ll know what variety of order they’d and why they didn’t goal that window.’
Meanwhile, visitors were told to evacuate urgently from the museum.
9.36am
Having bagged their loot, the 2 thieves made their way back out to hitch their co-conspirator keeping lookout.
That is when considered one of the few apparent errors within the extremely tight operation happened.
The gang appears to have dropped one of the vital spectacular items they took from the museum: the crown of Empress Eugénie, who was married to Napoleon III.
Containing 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds amongst a whole lot of other gems, the crown was discovered broken below the window.
9.37am
The gang made their getaway with eight priceless pieces, leaving only the crown behind.
There was a second issue, as they unsuccessfully tried to set the flatbed truck alight before heading off on the scooters.
Guards alerted the police, however the group of 4 had already left within the direction of the A6 motorway which heads south from the French capital.
The Louvre account on X posted that the museum would remain closed for the remainder of the day ‘for exceptional reasons’.
10.34am
France’s Culture Minister Rachida Dati posted on X that a robbery had taken place within the Louvre earlier that morning and no injuries were reported.
This was the primary time the character of the incident had been revealed to the broader world – though the shocking details of the heist are still emerging.
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