PARIS (AP) — Thieves reportedly stole nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress in the Louvre, using a basket lift to reach the museum…
Thieves reportedly stole nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress in the Louvre, using a basket lift to reach the museum on Sunday morning.
The daring heist at the world’s most visited museum occurred as tourists were inside the Galerie d’Apollon, where part of the French Crown Jewels are displayed.
The museum closed for the day as police sealed gates and ushered visitors out.
Here’s a look at some other famous heists worldwide:
The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat.
It was recovered two years later in Florence — an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait the world’s best-known artwork.
It’s been called the biggest art heist in U.S. history, but 35 years later, the theft of 13 works from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum remains unsolved.
In the early hours of March 18, 1990, two men disguised as Boston police officers talked their way into the museum by saying they were responding to a call. They overpowered two security guards, bound them with duct tape and spent 81 minutes pilfering 13 works of art, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet.
