Louvre Jewelry Heist Joins History's Largest Museum Thefts

On a recent Sunday, masked thieves executed a bold heist at the Louvre in Paris, stealing nine pieces of jewelry from the collection of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie, using a basket lift to access the museum's Galerie d’Apollon where the French Crown Jewels are displayed. The museum, which had tourists inside at the time, closed for the day as police secured the premises and launched an investigation; a broken 19th-century crown belonging to Empress Eugénie was later found after the thieves fled. This incident is among the most audacious in the Louvre's long history of thefts, including the famous 1911 disappearance of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, which was recovered two years later. Other notable art heists worldwide include the unsolved 1990 theft of 13 works from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, valued at potentially half a billion dollars, and the 2017 theft of a massive Canadian gold coin from Berlin's Bode Museum. These incidents underscore the persistent vulnerability of priceless artworks and historical treasures to high-profile thefts, often involving elaborate methods and sometimes remaining unresolved for decades. The ongoing risks have prompted museums worldwide to continuously reassess and bolster their security measures to protect cultural heritage.