Louvre Museum Shutters Due to ‘Exceptional Circumstances’ Following Theft Incident

“I am currently at the location with the museum staff and police,” she shared on X.

Meanwhile, the Musée du Louvre announced on the same platform that it would “remain closed today due to exceptional circumstances.”

According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, the culprits accessed the renowned museum and former palace through its facade facing the Seine, where construction is ongoing.

The report indicated that the intruders used a freight elevator to reach the intended room in the Apollo Gallery directly.

Breaking windows, they allegedly made off with “nine items from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress.”

The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous was in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat. It was recovered two years later in Florence — an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait the world’s best-known artwork.

In 1983, two Renaissance-era pieces of armour were stolen from the Louvre and only recovered nearly four decades later. The museum’s collection also bears the legacy of Napoleonic-era looting that continues to spark restitution debates today.

The Louvre is home to more than 33,000 works spanning antiquities, sculpture and painting — from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to European masters. Its star attractions include the Mona Lisa, as well as the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

The Galerie d’Apollon, where Sunday’s theft reportedly took place, displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels.

The museum can draw up to 30,000 visitors a day.