Brazen theft at The Louvre targets prized jewellery collection

It only took four minutes, in broad daylight, to close the world’s most famous museum in a daring heist, with priceless implications.
Exterior view of historical building and forecourt with people. The Louvre

Visitors were ushered from the world’s most famous art museum – The Louvre – on Sunday morning (19 October) as the realisation that a priceless, potentially history-changing jewellery heist had occured.

It only took a few minutes for a team of thieves in balaclavas to pull off this well-planned robbery.

At 9.30am (6.30pm AEDT), thieves entered the Galerie d’Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) on an upper level of the museum, which they accessed with a truck-top basket crane. After cutting through a window grille and smashing display cases, they fled on motorbikes with eight pieces from a collection of 19th century Napoleonic jewels – the remains of France’s historic crown jewels.

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's Senior Contributor, after 12 years in the role as National Visual Arts Editor. She has worked for extended periods in America and Southeast Asia, as gallerist, arts administrator and regional contributing editor for a number of magazines, including Hong Kong based Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. She is an Art Tour leader for the AGNSW Members, and lectures regularly on the state of the arts. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Instagram: fairleygina