Napoleon’s Lost Bling: A brief history of eight priceless jewels stolen from Louvre Museum

The Louvre is used to tourists queuing at dawn, not thieves scaling its walls. Yet, on a crisp October morning in Paris, four masked intruders did just that — pulling up beside the Seine, extending a ladder, and slipping through a second-floor window into the Galerie d’Apollon. In under five minutes, they smashed two display cases, grabbed eight of France’s most treasured pieces of jewellery, and vanished into the city before police even arrived. The robbery, swift and surgical, has sent shockwaves through the art world — not just because of its audacity, but because of what was taken. These weren’t mere ornaments. They were fragments of France’s royal and imperial past: relics of queens and empresses, symbols of dynasties, and witnesses to centuries of political upheaval. Here’s a lo