Tuesday, October 21, 2025-The recent jewel heist at the Louvre has shocked the art world, but it’s far from the museum’s first encounter with high-profile theft. On October 19, 2025, a group of thieves broke into the Galerie d’Apollon, escaping with several priceless jewels once belonging to French royalty and the Napoleonic court.
The robbery, which lasted only a few minutes, left security experts stunned at how easily one of the world’s most protected museums could be breached. One damaged crown was later found outside the museum, but most of the stolen treasures remain missing.
This latest theft echoes a long history of audacious crimes at the Louvre. The most famous occurred in 1911, when Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia stole Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa by hiding inside the museum overnight and walking out with the painting under his coat.
The artwork vanished for two years before resurfacing in Florence, an event that ironically helped make the Mona Lisa the most recognized painting on Earth. Decades later, in 1976, burglars scaled scaffolding to steal the diamond-encrusted sword of King Charles X, while a 1998 heist saw Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot’s Le Chemin de Sèvres disappear without a trace.
Each of these episodes has spurred security overhauls and renewed questions about how thieves continue to outwit one of the world’s most prestigious institutions.
As investigators hunt for the culprits behind the 2025 jewel theft, many are reminded that the Louvre’s greatest treasures have long drawn not only admiration but also obsession, a reminder that fame can be both a masterpiece’s blessing and its curse.
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