n a scene straight out of a movie, thieves disguised as workers stole eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels from the Louvre in Paris on Sunday. The heist, which took just seven minutes—four inside the museum and three outside—occurred during regular opening hours, around 9:30 a.m., only half an hour after the museum opened. The culprits made their escape on scooters, vanishing into the Parisian streets with jewels worth an estimated $102.63 million.
The Louvre, housed in the historic Louvre Palace at the heart of Paris, has long been a symbol of France’s cultural legacy. Originally built by King Philip II in the late 12th century as a fortress to defend the city from potential English attacks, the palace evolved dramatically over the centuries. King Francis I transformed it into a royal residence in the 16th century and began collecting works of art that would later form the foundation of the museum’s world-famous collection—including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
By the late 1600s, after Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, the Louvre became a showcase for the royal art collection. Artists were even invited to live and work within its walls, turning it into a hub of creativity long before it officially became a public museum. That moment came during the French Revolution in 1793, when the Louvre opened its doors to the public for the first time, displaying 537 paintings—many of them confiscated from the aristocracy and the church.
Today, the Louvre stands as the largest and most visited museum in the world, home to about 500,000 objects and 35,000 works of art displayed across eight departments. In 1981, a major modernization led by President François Mitterrand introduced the now-iconic glass Pyramid designed by I.M. Pei—a structure that was once controversial but is now one of Paris’s most beloved landmarks.
This isn’t the first time the museum has made headlines for a theft. In 1911, the Mona Lisa was famously stolen by an Italian handyman, Vincenzo Peruggia, who hid in a broom closet and walked out with the painting under his coat. The painting’s disappearance—and the international frenzy that followed—cemented its status as the most famous artwork in the world.
Despite its turbulent history, the Louvre remains committed to accessibility and preservation. In 2021, it launched an online database featuring over 480,000 pieces, allowing art lovers around the world to explore its treasures virtually. With roughly 38,000 works on display at any given time, seeing each piece for just 30 seconds would take nearly 200 days.
In 2024 alone, the Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors, reaffirming its place as not just a museum, but a living testament to art, history, and human achievement.