It features 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds; its setting consists of eight eagle-shaped arches in chiseled gold alternating with diamond palmettes framed by emeralds, and in the center rises a diamond globe surmounted by a cross of six brilliants.
“One of the jewels stolen from the Louvre has been found: Empress Eugénie's crown,” said French Culture Minister Rachida Dati speaking on TF1. The crown, which was damaged, was discovered near the museum. “Its value is being assessed,” Dati said.
“The piece was made in 1855 by goldsmith Alexandre-Gabriel Lemonnier for the Paris Universal Exhibition,” according to Le Parisien. After the fall of the Second Empire in 1870, the crown was sold by the state in 1885 as part of the liquidation of monarchical assets; it returned to the national heritage more than a century later thanks to a private donation. “A masterpiece of French goldsmithing, symbol of the splendor of the Second Empire,” is how the Louvre describes it.
It features 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds; its setting consists of eight eagle-shaped arches in chiseled gold alternating with diamond palmettes framed by emeralds, and in the center rises a diamond globe surmounted by a cross of six brilliants. “In the broken display case were the crown, a tiara, pearls, diamond brooches, and a pendant,” said a visitor to the Louvre, according to El Financiero.
The theft took place Sunday 9:30 a.m., about half an hour after opening, leading to the museum's exceptional closure and the immediate deployment of police; visitors were asked not to enter.
French channels reported that fewer than ten items were stolen, including nine pieces from the jewelry collections of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie, such as a necklace, a brooch, and a tiara. “Eight items of inestimable heritage value were stolen,” the Ministry of Culture said. “The burglars were not armed but carried angle grinders,” Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said, according to BFMTV.
“They acted professionally, without violence and without panic,” Dati said. “Works of art are now the target of organized crime, just like museums,” she added. “The loot is almost priceless,” Dati said.
Four individuals participated in the robbery, according to Le Parisien. Two wore yellow vests similar to those worn by construction workers, and one of these vests, used to pose as workers, was found after the escape. The group entered through the south facade, on the Seine side, using a cherry picker. Inside, they took advantage of construction work to use a freight elevator leading directly to a room adjacent to the Apollo Gallery.
Breaking windows, two men entered while a third remained outside; two accomplices waited under a museum window on scooters. They cut open protected display cases with power tools, broke display stands, and fled on TMax scooters.
Alarms went off and security guards responded, but the group disappeared before the police arrived. The group targeted at least nine items in about seven minutes and left with eight pieces of incalculable historical value, including a tiara and a large corsage bow belonging to Empress Eugénie.
The French Ministry of Culture has published an inventory of the stolen jewelry: the tiara from the set belonging to Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense; a reliquary brooch; an emerald necklace from Marie-Louise's set; a pair of emerald earrings from Marie-Louise's set; the necklace from the sapphire set belonging to Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense; and an earring from the sapphire set belonging to Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense. The Régente, the largest diamond in the collection at over 140 carats, was not stolen.
“The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture. This theft is a humiliation for our country,” Jordan Bardella wrote on X. “This is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” said President Emmanuel Macron, adding that the authorities would do everything to recover the jewelry and bring the perpetrators to justice. The theft has reignited criticism of security at the museum, which welcomes more than nine million visitors a year; unions had already warned of a lack of security and overcrowding in the galleries.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.