In the broad morning daylight of Paris on Sunday, four professional thieves broke into the Louvre Museum, stealing French Crown Jewels from the Napoleonic Era. The heist took less than eight minutes, and the thieves made away with eight priceless artifacts. 

Disguised as maintenance workers, the thieves rode up on scooters outside the museum, on the side of the Seine, where accomplices waited with a basket truck to lift them up to the second floor of the Apollo Gallery. With an angle grinder, two of the men pried the windows open into the museum. 

There were no tourists, security, cameras, alarms, or staff in the gallery at the time. The thieves targeted two cases containing crowns, tiaras, necklaces, and earrings belonging to 18th century monarchs of France. These professional burglars made out how they arrived not eight minutes later. 

The thieves grabbed nine artifacts total, though one was recovered as it was dropped on escape. A single picture was taken of the back of one of the robbers as the alarm finally sounded at the end of the robbery. The men escaped on city scooters, and have not been seen since. 

The men were inside the museum for a total of four minutes. 

The jewels are priceless as they cannot be sold or displayed due to the infamous nature of the artifacts, though time is of the essence as the thieves could dismantle the pieces, melt down the gold, and sell the gemstones. Some speculate that this has already taken place as it only takes a short amount of time to do so. 

**Mavrie has been serving as editor for the ThunderWord since 2024. She is also the founding president of Highline’s Non-fiction Writers Circle.**