By now, you've probably heard the basics of the audacious Louvre Museum jewel heist that occurred on the morning of October 19, 2025. At approximately 9:30 a.m., around half an hour after the museum opened to the public for the day, a pair of thieves strategically placed a furniture hoist outside the second-floor window they planned to use to access their desired items.
With the help of two additional accomplices (so four thieves in total that have been reported), the team used cutting tools to get into two display cases inside the Louvre's Galerie d'Apollon. They ignored some other jewels and precious pieces of art nearby, instead concentrating their efforts on nine specific jeweled items that are considered priceless parts of French cultural heritage. Somewhere along the way, the thieves dropped or otherwise discarded two of the pieces of jewelry, including the crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, which had over 1,300 diamonds and was damaged during the incident.
As my partner was telling me about this brazen heist shortly after the news broke, he mentioned that the thieves had fled the scene with the other jewels on scooters. "Let me guess, Yamaha TMAXes?" I said, half jokingly.
