The Paris prosecutor said Tuesday that crown jewels stolen in a dramatic weekend heist at the Louvre are worth an estimated €88 million ($102 million)—but that the figure does not include their immense historical value to France.
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau, whose office is leading the investigation, said about 100 investigators are now involved in the search for the suspects and the missing jewels after Sunday’s theft from the world’s most-visited museum.
“The wrongdoers who took these gems won’t earn €88 million if they had the very bad idea of disassembling these jewels,” Beccuau told broadcaster RTL. “We can perhaps hope that they’ll think about this and won’t destroy these jewels without rhyme or reason.”
Also Tuesday, Culture Minister Rachida Dati said the Louvre’s security system functioned properly during the theft.
Questions have arisen about the museum’s security—and whether its cameras might have failed—after the thieves reportedly rode a basket lift up the Louvre’s facade, forced a window, smashed display cases, and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels on Sunday morning.
“The Louvre Museum’s security apparatus did not fail, that is a fact,” Dati told lawmakers in the National Assembly. “The Louvre Museum’s security apparatus worked.”
Dati said she has launched an administrative inquiry in addition to the police investigation to ensure full transparency. She did not provide details about how the thieves managed to carry out the heist despite functioning security cameras. She described the robbery as “a painful blow” to the nation.
“The robbery is a wound for all of us,” she said. “Why? Because the Louvre is far more than the world’s largest museum. It’s a showcase for our French culture and our shared patrimony.”
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Monday that the museum’s alarm was triggered when thieves forced open a window in the Apollo Gallery. Police officers arrived within two to three minutes after being alerted by a witness, he told LCI television.
Officials said the heist lasted less than eight minutes in total, with the thieves spending under four minutes inside the museum. Nuñez did not disclose details about video surveillance footage pending the police investigation. “There are cameras all around the Louvre,” he said.
Sunday’s theft targeted the gilded Apollo Gallery, where the Crown Diamonds are displayed. The alarm brought Louvre staff to the scene, forcing the intruders to flee—but the robbery was already complete.
According to officials, eight objects were stolen:
- a sapphire diadem, necklace, and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense
- an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife
- a reliquary brooch
- Empress Eugénie’s diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch, part of a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble