It was a jaw-droppingly brazen crime that represented an ‘attack on a heritage that we cherish, because it is our history’, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Four raiders in high-vis gear, passing for construction workers, broke into the world’s biggest and most-visited museum in daylight and left with priceless treasures that once belonged to Napoleon.
And it only took them seven minutes.
No suspects have yet been caught following the robbery yesterday morning, which resulted in the loss of nine items from the Louvre collection.
There has been widespread shock that a site housing countless world-famous artworks and artefacts could be so vulnerable – even from a gang described as a ‘highly organised commando unit’.
So how did they pull it off? Here’s what we know so far.
9.30am
Two thieves pulled up outside the Denon Wing of the Louvre in the centre of Paris, riding Yamaha T-Max scooters.
The wing is on the southern side of the museum, alongside the Seine.
Their target was the Galerie d’Apollon, or Apollo Gallery, the ornate section created by ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV which holds some of the museum’s most decadent items.
Just 120 metres away from the gallery is the Louvre’s most famous resident, the Mona Lisa – also the target of a famous theft in 1911.
9.31am
The two scooters were parked behind the museum, and two more thieves arrived in a flatbed truck.
It was parked on the pavement next to a fence and below a balcony that extended from the south end of the gallery.
The museum had been open to the public since 9am.
9.32am
The back of the flatbed truck had an extendable goods lift which could also be used as a ladder.
With everything else in place, this was activated until it reached the balcony.
Dressed as construction workers, three of the robbers climbed up to the first floor while the fourth is thought to have stayed at ground level.
9.33am
Two of the thieves proceeded to slice their way through the window using a handheld disc cutter.
Five security guards were on duty in the gallery when they entered, but all of them ran away when they were threatened with angle grinders and chainsaws.
A third member of the gang remained on lookout at the window.
9.34am
The high-precision heist kicked off: the pair inside the gallery were able to access two high-security display cases and access the jewellery inside.
Video footage from the scene shows a man in a yellow hi-vis vest and black clothing appearing to saw through the glass.
The museum’s alarm system was triggered, but the robbers carried on with their work regardless.
9.35am
Two tiaras, two necklaces and a brooch were among the items taken from the cases – jewellery with links to French royalty and the Bonaparte dynasty.
Mysteriously, the robbers chose not to target the renowned Regent diamond just a few feet away. It has been valued by Sotheby’s at around £45 million.
Laure Beccuau, the Paris Prosecutor, told news site BFM: ‘It’ll only be when they’re in custody and face investigators that we’ll know what type of order they had and why they didn’t target that window.’
Meanwhile, visitors were told to evacuate urgently from the museum.
9.36am
Having bagged their loot, the two thieves made their way back out to join their co-conspirator keeping lookout.
This is when one of the few apparent errors in the extremely tight operation happened.
The gang appears to have dropped one of the most spectacular items they took from the museum: the crown of Empress Eugénie, who was married to Napoleon III.
Containing 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds among hundreds of other gems, the crown was discovered broken below the window.
9.37am
The gang made their getaway with eight priceless pieces, leaving only the crown behind.
There was a second issue, as they unsuccessfully tried to set the flatbed truck alight before heading off on the scooters.
Guards alerted the police, but the group of four had already left in the direction of the A6 motorway which heads south from the French capital.
The Louvre account on X posted that the museum would remain closed for the rest of the day ‘for exceptional reasons’.
10.34am
France’s Culture Minister Rachida Dati posted on X that a robbery had taken place in the Louvre earlier that morning and no injuries were reported.
This was the first time the nature of the incident had been revealed to the wider world – though the shocking details of the heist are still emerging.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.