€88 million of jewels stolen from the Louvre

At 9 am, on the 19th October, Paris' Louvre museum opened as usual. Everything looked normal. But 30 minutes later, there was a robbery. Four men arrived outside the building. They wore builders' clothes. They used a ladder to get to the second floor. There, in the Apollo gallery, was some special jewellery. It was from Napoleon's family.

The robbers cut the window. They entered the gallery and broke the glass around the jewels. It took seven minutes. The value of the jewels is €88,000,000. Tourists outside were surprised.

Janie: "You know, you think, in the Louvre, of all places, don't they have like the best security on the planet? So, it's crazy. I'm thinking an inside job maybe? It's really weird."

Elise Muller helps to keep the Louvre safe. It's a difficult job these days. The museum doesn't get enough government money. That's why it happened, she says.

Elise Muller: "When you eliminate professional posts, sooner or later there's a price to pay. And this time it's been a dramatic one, we've faced something worse than a film scene. No one could ever have imagined we'd get to this point, in the world's greatest museum."

In France, everyone's talking about security. Not long ago, robbers took gold from another Paris museum. There was a robbery in Limoges' museum too.

Now, a huge team's working on the Louvre robbery. Police think the robbers were experts. They arrested several men a few days ago. They're hoping to find answers. Weniger anzeigen