Louvre installs security bars on balcony used in October's heist: "Learning all the lessons"

The museum has installed security bars on the balcony used by burglars in October to steal the crown jewels worth an estimated $102 million.
Text: Óscar Ontañón Docal
Published 2025-12-23

The Louvre museum has installed security bars on the balcony used by burglars in October to steal the crown jewels worth an estimated $102 million.

Four suspects broke into the Paris museum on October 19 using a movers' lift, smashed a window in the Apollo Gallery, forced open display cases with angle grinders and escaped on scooters in a heist lasting less than seven minutes.

On Tuesday, a crane fitted a metal grille over the balcony door. The museum said it was strengthening security following the theft, adding that a mobile police unit is now stationed outside the glass pyramid and 100 additional cameras will be installed next year.

Police have identified eight suspects, but the stolen jewels have not been recovered. The robbery exposed security gaps at the world's most visited museum, which houses works such as the Mona Lisa.

Louvre Museum on X:

The Louvre Museum continues the deployment of the emergency measures announced:


The distancing devices around the Louvre are installed on the François Mitterrand quay;
An advanced mobile post of the national police has been present since December 19 on the Carrousel roundabout;
And this morning, a gate in front of the French window of the Galerie d'Apollon has been installed.


Starting next year, 100 additional perimeter cameras will be deployed as part of lot 1 of the master plan for security equipment signed and notified last week.

The Louvre is drawing all the lessons from the theft of last October 19 and is continuing its transformation and the strengthening of its security architecture.

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