2025: The year with the heist you only see in movies

Through French news sources he immediately went online to look for more information: “It quickly became clear that two of the four perpetrators were wearing yellow vests, had parked a moving lift against the Louvre on the Seine side, and had entered the balcony on the second floor via the ladder. To be honest? I go to Paris quite regularly — about five or six times a year. If I had walked past and seen people in a yellow vest on a ladder, I also wouldn’t have paid attention.”

A clever move: the perpetrators spent less than four minutes inside the Louvre. They stole nine historic crown jewels belonging to, among others, Hortense de Beauharnais, former queen of Holland, and Empress Eugénie de Montijo. The estimated value? 88 million euros. The only piece that has been recovered is Eugénie’s crown — badly damaged, according to museum director Laurence des Cars. That is likely because the thieves hastily pulled the crown through an opening that was too small and dropped it.

Nouvelle Renaissance

Smeets read with amazement how effortlessly the master heist had been carried out. “We’re talking about the Louvre: one of the largest museums in the world, which attracted 8.7 million visitors last year. When I read that the security code was simply ‘Louvre,’ I thought: how is that possible? It also turned out that the alarm on the door facing the street wasn’t working and the cameras in the Galerie d’Apollon weren’t aimed in the right direction.”

Smeets finds the timing of the heist particularly remarkable. “In January this year, President Macron announced a major new project: Nouvelle Renaissance. Its goal is to invest 500 million euros into the Louvre to make the museum future-proof.”

The museum has not been “properly renovated” since the 1980s and “does not meet current standards,” Des Cars explained after the heist. A new “grand entrance” should help ensure that visitors no longer enter exclusively through the famous pyramid. There will also be a separate room for the world-famous painting Mona Lisa, which attracts 20,000 visitors per day.

Smeets: “What’s interesting is that this plan also focuses on improving the museum’s security. The thieves must have known that!”

Sérieux?

The day after the heist, it remained the talk of the day at the French Language and Culture department. Smeets: “On our floor you mostly heard one word: sérieux? A heist like this is usually something you only see in a movie. The cinematic aspect also lies in the fact that no one was injured, even though there were visitors and security guards in the room. The perpetrators came for the jewels and then left. Only, these aren’t just any jewels — they are part of France’s cultural heritage.”

Other art thefts

The jewel heist is not the only art theft that has taken place in the Louvre. Other significant thefts include:

1911. Perhaps the most famous art theft ever. Mona Lisa, the masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, was taken by Vincenzo Peruggia. He walked out of the museum with it hidden under his coat. He turned out to be a former employee. It wasn’t recovered until two years later.

1994 -1998. During this period several smaller works were stolen from the Louvre. Examples include a Greek votive stele (January 1998), a work by Lancelot-Théodore Turpin de Crissé (1995), and a portrait by Robert Nanteuil (1994).

1998. Le Chemin de Sèvres by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. This painting had been part of the collection of French art collector Georges Thomy-Thierry. After his death in 1902, Le Chemin de Sèvres entered the Louvre’s collection — until someone stole it on May 3, 1998. The museum was immediately closed and police searched hundreds of visitors. The painting has never been recovered.

In 2010, another major heist took place at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, about three kilometers from the Louvre. The burglar stole five masterpieces by Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, and Amedeo Modigliani. All these works, with an estimated total value of 100 million euros, have never been found. The burglar turned out to be Vjeran Tomic, nicknamed “Spiderman” because he skillfully climbed Parisian buildings. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

End-of-year series

This story is part of the End-of-year series. Especially for this series, the editors of Radboud Recharge, together with scientists, look back on seven important moments from 2025. Curious about the other articles? View the entire series here.