The Louvre reopened its Apollo Gallery to the public on Wednesday — without any jewelry on display — for the first time since more than $100 million in artifacts were stolen in a brazen daytime heist last year.
Visitors are once again welcome to examine the Apollo Gallery, one of the Louvre’s most celebrated historic spaces. Its richly decorated 17th-century interior was created under a young King Louis XIV and decorated by painter Charles Le Brun, who was inspired by the theme of the sun.
Jewels will be on display elsewhere in the Paris museum in a more secure location, its director, Christophe Leribault, who was appointed in February during a staffing overhaul following the robbery, explained during the reopening Wednesday.
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Thieves steal priceless jewelry in ‘professional’ Louvre heist
He said that it was “also an opportunity to rediscover the splendid architecture and decor of this gallery,” The Associated Press reported.
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France’s Culture Minister Catherine Pégard hailed the gallery’s reopening, marking a new beginning for the iconic museum after what she said was a “trauma for the whole world,” and pledged to increase security at museums across the country, the U.S. outlet added.
“That sinister day, when iconic pieces were taken, cannot be forgotten, and indeed, I believe, should not be.”
“It was a trauma for us, discovering the fragility of a place we thought unshakeable, and which, like so many others, proved vulnerable,” she continued.
On Oct. 19, 2025, at around 9:30 a.m., masked thieves used a basket lift and grinders to break into the second-floor gallery, smash two display cases and steal crown jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million). They then fled on the backs of scooters being driven by two accomplices in a heist lasting less than seven minutes. By the time alarm systems alerted nearby staff, the intruders had vanished.
The robbery took place about 30 minutes after the museum opened, with visitors already inside, and unfolded just 250 metres from the Mona Lisa.
Four people suspected of direct involvement in the heist have been charged and are in custody but nine months on, the stolen jewels have not been recovered, except Empress Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown containing more than 1,300 diamonds, which was found broken outside the museum shortly after the robbery.
Security at the Paris museum has since been beefed up with the addition of new surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems, part of a decade-long, 800 million euro ($933 million) plan to modernize its security infrastructure, reduce crowding and give the Mona Lisa its own gallery.
The project follows criticism from the French state auditors’ office, which has questioned the museum’s low spending on security and infrastructure maintenance while it made lavish purchases of new artwork, only a quarter of which is open to the public, and spent heavily on post-pandemic relaunch projects, Reuters reported.
The Louvre remains the world’s most visited museum, welcoming more than nine million visitors annually.
— with files from Reuters and The Associated Press
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