An emerald necklace once owned by French Empress Marie-Louise and French Empress Eugénie's tiara. The two highly valuable items were stolen from the Louvre Museum on October 19, 2025.

By Chris Spiker From Daily Voice

The world's most visited museum welcomed back tourists three days after more than $100 million worth of historic jewels were stolen in a bold heist.

The Louvre Museum reopened on Wednesday, Oct. 22. Masked thieves escaped from the iconic Paris attraction with an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million) in historic jewels at around 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, Oct. 19.

French police are still searching for the four suspects who used a stolen movers' lift to break through a second-floor window before escaping with eight pieces tied to the French Crown Jewels. The Galerie d'Apollon, which houses France's royal collection, remained closed as investigators searched for clues.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told RTL that about 100 investigators are now working to recover the jewels before the thieves melt them down, NBC News reported.

"The wrongdoers who took these gems won't earn 88 million euros if they had the very bad idea of disassembling these jewels," Beccuau told France radio network RTL. "We can perhaps hope that they'll think about this and won't destroy these jewels without rhyme or reason."

Outside the Louvre, tourists waited for more than an hour beneath the glass pyramid to see the museum reopen.

"It doesn't feel real, that they could do it in broad daylight like that," a 19-year-old student from London named Alex Charash told NBC News.

Since the heist, French and Louvre leaders have faced growing criticism over the shocking theft. President Emmanuel Macron, who announced a six-year renovation plan for the museum earlier in 2025, called for an "acceleration" of new security measures.

French Culture Minister Rachida Dati called the incident "a wound for all of us."

"The Louvre Museum is much more than the largest museum in the world," she told France's National Assembly. "It is the showcase of French culture and our shared heritage."

While Dati insisted that the museum's security systems worked, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez acknowledged that the heist exposed vulnerabilities, Reuters reported.

"There was a burglary at the Louvre; some of the most precious jewels in France were stolen," Nuñez told Europe 1 radio. "So obviously it's a failure, there is nothing else I can say."

Nuñez also said alarms went off immediately, but the suspects left before officers could arrive.

"The alarm system worked perfectly, as soon as the window was attacked, it was activated," he said. "Police were notified, and within three minutes, they were on the scene. The whole system worked. It didn't fail, but what happened has happened."

The Louvre in Paris is the world's largest and most visited museum. It houses Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

The Louvre in Paris is the world's largest and most visited museum. It houses Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Wikimedia Commons - Pedro Szekely

The Louvre Palace was built in the late 12th century as the official residence of the kings of France, until Louis XIV abandoned it for Versailles in 1682. Four years after the French Revolution, the Louvre became a museum for the royal art collection in 1793.

An estimated 8.7 million people visited the Louvre in 2024. The museum is home to many famous works, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting and the Venus de Milo statue from ancient Greece.

France's Senate is expected to question Louvre director Laurence des Cars about the heist and potential security failures.