"Inestimable value"

These are the stolen jewels from the Louvre

A sapphire tiara belonging to the queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense as well as a necklace and earrings from the set were stolen.(Bild: AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

The spectacular break-in at the Louvre in Paris lasted just four minutes. The value of the stolen jewels - unimaginable. French President Emmanuel Macron even branded the crime an attack on France's culture. It is now known which parts of the French crown jewels were stolen. 

The thieves stole eight historical pieces of jewelry. The jewels are normally displayed in the Galerie d'Apollon, one of the most famous rooms in the Louvre.

Thieves lost the empress's crown
Probably the most magnificent piece of booty, the crown of Empress Eugénie, was recovered after the break-in. Apparently the perpetrators lost the crown, which is 13 centimeters high and set with 1354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, during their escape. 

The crown of Empress Eugénie de Montijo(Bild: AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

A sapphire tiara belonging to Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense as well as a necklace and earrings from the set were stolen.(Bild: AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

A magnificent tiara made of Ceylon sapphires and diamonds - once worn by Queen Hortense and later by Marie-Amélie - was also stolen. The thieves also stole a necklace and earrings from the same set - although a matching brooch and another pair of earrings were not stolen.

Among the stolen pieces is a special gift from Napoleon I to his second wife Marie-Louise from 1810. The necklace made of 32 emeralds, including ten in the shape of drops, and 1138 diamonds was stolen with the matching earrings. The set was made by the court jeweler François-Régnault Nitot - one of the most famous goldsmiths of his time.

Napoleon I gave the emerald necklace and matching earrings to his second wife.(Bild: AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Probably the oldest piece taken during the robbery is a relic brooch, which is thought to have belonged to Empress Eugénie. The brooch, made of set diamonds, has puzzled historians, as it was possibly intended to serve as a "holder" for a Christian relic. According to the Louvre, one hypothesis of the researchers is that the easily removable piece of jewelry was designed in such a way that an intermediate element could be inserted later, which would have contained a relic. The brooch consists of 94 diamonds, some of which were already worn by Louis XIV, the "Sun King". 

The jewelry of Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, exhibited in the Louvre.(Bild: AFP/FRANCOIS GUILLOT)

A bodice pin in the shape of a bow, set with 2438 diamonds, also belonged to the Empress. There is also a tiara from 1853, adorned with 212 pearls and 1989 diamonds. 

The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world. In 2024, almost 9 million people visited the art institution. The museum's collection comprises over 35,000 works of art. The room with Leonardo da Vinci's world-famous Mona Lisa alone attracts around 20,000 visitors a day. To cope with the influx of visitors, there are strict access restrictions with prescribed visitor routes and zig-zag barriers in front of the most popular exhibits.