On Wednesday, the Louvre Museum reopened its doors, welcoming visitors who queued eagerly under its iconic glass pyramid in Paris. This reopening comes just days after experiencing one of the most notorious heists of the century.

In a daring theft, criminals managed to infiltrate and escape the world-renowned museum, seizing eight items from France’s Crown Jewels. This audacious act has been likened by some officials to the catastrophic Notre-Dame Cathedral fire in 2019, marking a significant cultural loss.

The robbery took place early on Sunday morning, astonishingly close to the Mona Lisa, only 250 meters (around 270 yards) away. This incident has sparked a nationwide discussion, questioning the effectiveness of the museum’s current security protocols and the newly suggested measures.

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As barriers were lifted, eager visitors flooded the entrance, following an intense period of forensic investigation and staff briefings. However, the Apollo Gallery, the crime scene where the Crown Diamonds were displayed, remains off-limits. A folding screen now blocks the entrance at the gallery’s rotunda, maintaining the area’s closure.

France acknowledges failings

Authorities say the thieves spent less than four minutes inside the Louvre on Sunday morning: a freight lift was wheeled to the Seine-facing faade, a window was forced open and two vitrines were smashed.

Then came the getaway on motorbikes through central Paris. Alarms had gone off drawing agents to the gallery and forcing the intruders to bolt.

“We have failed,” Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said, noting that the ability to plant a freight lift undetected on a public way projects “a very negative image of France.”

As it reopened, the Louvre declined questions from The Associated Press to detail any reinforced protocols. It said no uniformed police were posted in the corridors. With school holidays swelling demand, the day was fully booked and access limited in places.

Wednesday’s opening followed a routine closer on Tuesday, a day when the museum is normally shut.

The loot

The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.

They also made off with an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch – an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship – were also part of the loot.

One piece – the emerald-set imperial crown of Empress Eugénie, with more than 1,300 diamonds – was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.

Fears the jewels will be destroyed

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau valued the haul at about 88 million ($102 million), a “spectacular” figure that still fails to capture the works’ historical weight. She warned the thieves would be unlikely to realize anything close to that sum if they pry out stones or melt the metals – a fate curators fear would pulverize centuries of meaning into anonymous gems for the black market. The jewels remain missing; no arrests have been announced.

Beccuau said expert analyses are underway; four people have been identified as present at the scene, and roughly 100 investigators are mapping the crew and any accomplices.

The heist has sharpened scrutiny of the museum’s security and brought its president-director, Laurence des Cars, before the Senate’s culture committee on Wednesday – though top officials have refused to remove her.

Questions about Louvre’s security overhaul

All this comes after President Emmanuel Macron’s government announced new measure in January for the Louvre – complete with a new command post and expanded camera grid that the culture ministry says is being rolled out.

It also raises hard questions, including whether Sunday’s breach is tied to staffing levels, and how uniformly the upgrades in the overhaul are being applied.

Protection for headline works is airtight – the Mona Lisa is behind bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled case – yet the break-in exposed seams elsewhere in a 33,000-object labyrinth. For many French, the contrast is a public embarrassment at the landmark.

There is another raw nerve: the issue of swelling crowds and overstretched staff.

A June staff walkout delayed opening over overcrowding and chronic understaffing. Unions argue that mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, freight access and visitor flows intersect.

On Wednesday, the Louvre’s other star attractions – from the Venus de Milo to the Winged Victory of Samothrace – were open again. But the cordoned-off vitrines in the Apollo Room, guarded and empty, told a different story: one of a breach measured not just in minutes and euros, but in the fragility of a nation’s patrimony.