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January 9, 2026
8 stunning pieces of priceless jewelry, valued at €88 million, were stolen from the world’s largest art museum in under 8 minutes, with simply a ladder and some scooters. There aren’t many names that come to mind when evaluating the execution of such a heist. Maybe it was the unbeatable Four Horsemen from the movie franchise Now You See Me, or Kaz Brekker’s unconventional crew from Six of Crows, or perhaps the renowned Kaitou Kid from the Magic Kaito manga series.
Turns out, this wasn’t some devious plan by a multi-layered criminal organization, nor infamous thieves and magicians. Rather, this was all executed by a group of 4 common men who, on a busy Sunday morning, stole a mechanical lift to reach the balcony of the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo), used power tools to cut through the window, cut through display cases, nabbed the jewelry, and hightailed out of the museum on scooters, dropping a crown in the process. If it weren’t broadcast all across the media with glaring proof, I’d say whoever came up with this plot had let their imagination run a little too wild. Because, most shocking of all, this robbery occurred at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The Louvre is known as the largest and most frequented art museum in the world, housing precious works such as the beautifully gentle sculpture Venus de Milo (depicting the Greek goddess Aphrodite), the historical masterpiece Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix, and, of course, one of the most famous works of art out there: the Mona Lisa.
Of the stolen jewelry, there were tiaras, brooches, earrings, and necklaces that once belonged to a variety of prominent historical figures, such as Empress Eugénie (wife of Napoleon III) and Queen Marie-Amelie—quite the array if you ask me. The value of the 8 items chalked up to around $102 million. Although the 4 suspects were arrested and charged—the last one found in November of last year—the jewels have yet to be recovered. Experts hope that the robbers knew enough not to dissect the treasures and sell them off separately because that wouldn’t garner $102 million, but we have yet to know the fate of the missing jewels.
To say the people of France (and people at large) were infuriated by the Louvre’s seemingly non-existent security and failure to protect such important artifacts is an understatement. Since then, the Louvre tightened its safety protocols, because if the alarm system fails or there’s a gaping surveillance blind spot again, who knows if it’ll be the Mona Lisa or Venus de Milo that’ll forever disappear from society.
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