Louvre reopens Apollo Gallery in Paris after royal jewels heist

PARIS — The Louvre's Apollo Gallery reopened to the public on Wednesday for the first time since thieves stole French crown jewels worth 88 million euros ($102 million) in a brazen daylight heist, but visitors will find no jewels, and no empty display cases either.

The gilded 17th-century hall, which connects the Apollo Rotunda to the Salon Carré on the route to the Mona Lisa, has been stripped of its collections and vitrines. The museum said the removal restores the gallery to its original ceremonial purpose, allowing its painted and sculpted decoration, gilded ceilings, frescoes, and sculptures, to be seen as the work of art it was conceived to be, and turning the space into one for strolling and contemplation.

The jewels that were not taken will be moved elsewhere in the museum. Louvre president Christophe Leribault told Le Parisien they would be housed in a secure, windowless vault in another part of the building.
Security across the museum has been reinforced, with new surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems installed

The gallery had been closed since October 19, 2025, when four thieves used a lorry-mounted lifting platform to reach a window, forced their way in, and made off with eight crown jewels in under eight minutes, in broad daylight. The stolen pieces remain missing nine months on, with the exception of a crown belonging to Empress Eugénie, which was recovered outside the museum after being dropped during the escape.

The robbery exposed serious security failings at the world's most-visited museum and triggered a leadership crisis. Then-president Laurence des Cars resigned in the aftermath, and Leribault was appointed in February.
Marking the reopening alongside Leribault, French Culture Minister Catherine Pégard said the day of the theft could not, and should not, be forgotten, describing it as a trauma felt around the world and a reminder of the fragility of a place long thought unshakeable.

The Apollo Gallery was built more than 350 years ago as a reception hall for the young King Louis XIV, and served as a model for the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.