One year after an €88 million robbery at the Louvre, the stolen royal jewels remain missing and four main suspects are jailed awaiting trial, AFP reported, while the recovered Empress Eugénie crown can be restored.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau gave the valuation on RTL on Oct. 21, 2025. She said it came from the museum curator and measured economic value, not the jewels’ historical significance.
The theft took place Oct. 19, 2025, in the Galerie d’Apollon. The Louvre said two display cases were targeted and Eugénie’s crown was recovered at the scene. INTERPOL said a mechanical ladder attached to a vehicle provided access to the gallery and the display cases were breached. The international police agency added the jewels to its Stolen Works of Art database.
Official accounts differ on the number of items taken. The Louvre’s initial statement listed eight stolen objects and noted the crown’s recovery. INTERPOL said nine items were taken, with the recovered crown leaving eight still missing. The accounts do not resolve the discrepancy.
In a February 2026 update, the Louvre said the crown had been crushed and badly bent. Most of its components survived, the museum said, making a full restoration possible. AFP reported that searches at properties connected to suspects and their relatives had not turned up the other jewels.
Private art detective Arthur Brand told AFP, “There is still a chance that we will see the Louvre jewels again.” AFP said Brand pointed to recoveries after the 2022 TEFAF art-fair raid in the Netherlands and the 2019 Green Vault burglary in Dresden.
The Galerie d’Apollon reopened to visitors on July 22, 2026, after the Louvre removed the collection formerly shown there. France’s Senate culture committee said an administrative inquiry found “serious and persistent” security deficiencies at the museum. In a response to the Senate, the government said 17 emergency measures had been proposed and work to implement them was underway in 2026.
