On Sunday, October 19th, 2025, the famous French museum, the Louvre, was raided for the crown jewels. The heist lasted only seven minutes and started at 9:30 AM in broad daylight when the thieves arrived with a truck harboring an extendable ladder to reach the second-floor balcony of the Louvre. Two thieves in the aforementioned construction hats used the angle grinder they brought to cut through the window leading to the Apollo Gallery. Two display cases were smashed with the same tool used to break into the Louvre, and eight artifacts from Emperor Napoleon and his wife were stolen. Approximately three minutes later, the museum alarm went off which sprung the authorities into action. The thieves had already escaped by the time the alarm sounded on motorbikes and were traced since they dropped the crown of Empress Eugenie which ended up damaged. Once the official heist was over, the Louvre closed temporarily and more evidence got out.

The jewels adorning the stolen items were mostly not French however. Many of them stemmed from unethical labor practices and colonization. There were gems from all over the world, including French colonies. If the jewels were stolen from the beginning, how moral was the thievery done in 2025? Many are calling attention to the dark history of these exploitative practices. 

Cites – 

https://apnews.com/article/jewels-crown-louvre-1fc9ced982798bc5c292a2f58d075275 

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/26/nx-s1-5586598/suspects-arrest-paris-louvre-museum-theft 

https://abcnews.go.com/International/thieves-robbed-louvre-minutes-minute-minute-breakdown-daring/story?id=126719610#:~:text=know%20so%20far.-,Police%20officers%20stand%20near%20the%20pyramid%20of%20the%20Louvre%20museum,and%20authorities%20to%20the%20theft.