Overview
- Footage reviewed by Le Parisien shows two intruders reaching the Apollo Gallery via a truck-mounted lift from the Seine and cutting through a first-floor window with electric saws.
- The operation lasted about three minutes and 52 seconds between 9:34 and 9:38 a.m., with alarms activating immediately and access points auto-locking as staff evacuated visitors.
- Reinforced display glass installed in 2019 resisted cutting, forcing the thieves to pry narrow openings to reach the jewels.
- The crown of Empress Eugénie was dropped during the escape and was damaged, and the Louvre says it can be restored.
- Authorities are screening roughly 2,000 employees and have not ruled out insider help, and the culture minister declined the director’s offer to resign after the theft.