The Louvre Museum said that burglars broke into the Apollo Gallery overnight and shattered exhibit cases carrying France’s Crown Jewels. This sent off alarms early Sunday morning. As the intruders ran away, security teams rushed in. Police later said that no one was wounded.
Some of France’s most valuable heirlooms are missing, including the Diadem of the Duchess of Angoulême (which Queen Hortense also wore), sapphire-and-diamond sets from Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense, an emerald collar from Empress Marie-Louise’s parure, several reliquary brooches, the Diadem of Empress Eugénie, and the grand cordon brooch of the Imperial Order of Eugénie. Museum workers acted quickly, closing down nearby rooms and getting visitors to safety.
The Ministère de la Culture said that the Paris prosecutor’s office has started a formal inquiry into what it called an “organized theft.” The Brigade de Répression du Banditisme is now in charge of the probe. Officials said that the Louvre was already in the process of modernizing its security system with new cameras, improved perimeter sensors, and a new security control center.
While the museum makes a full list of the items in the exhibit that were broken into, the police are looking at camera evidence and following up on leads.
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