Visitors filing back into the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery this week are stepping into a room made newly famous not for what it holds, but for what it lost: the vaulted hall targeted in a bold daylight theft last October has reopened, even as its most valuable treasures remain missing.
The Apollo Gallery, among the most opulently adorned spaces in the world’s most visited museum, long drew crowds for its display of the French crown jewels.
That reputation shifted abruptly after thieves stole eight items worth about $100 million (€87.67m), turning the gallery into the setting for one of the most audacious burglaries in recent memory.
“For me it’s an honour to be here on the first day, in the morning,” said Jenny Lee, a 34-year-old tourist guide, as the doors opened again.
Alison Leslie, a 52-year-old retired police officer from Scotland, also returned with a sense of familiarity. “It’s beautiful, as I remember it. I think I prefer it empty, without the jewels.”
French authorities have arrested four suspected robbers, but the stolen pieces have yet to be recovered despite wide-ranging searches by investigators in the Paris region and coordination with police in Belgium, Italy and elsewhere.
In the wake of the theft, the remaining jewels were removed from the Apollo Gallery and are to be shown in the future in a more secure, windowless room.
Investigators say the thieves used a truck-mounted lift to reach a balcony, then cut through windows and glass display cases using powerful disc cutters.
The gallery’s exposure—owing to its balcony and location along a roadway—had been highlighted as a weak point in a 2019 audit commissioned by the museum, but the recommendations were never implemented.
Iron window guards were installed on the outside of the Apollo Gallery last December
The heist reverberated far beyond Paris, shocking the public, humiliating France and laying bare a string of security failures, including an outdated CCTV setup.
It also set off turmoil inside the institution, sparking staff protests and culminating in the resignation of Laurence des Cars, the museum’s first woman president.
Christophe Leribault, an art historian and former head of the Versailles Palace, took over in February.
Police detained the four men suspected of carrying out the robbery in the following weeks. All are from the Paris region and have criminal histories.
Several have acknowledged participating, yet they insist they were following instructions from an alleged mastermind and deny they knew they were breaking into the Louvre.
They have declined to identify the purported ringleader, citing fear of reprisals, while investigators are reportedly uncertain whether such a figure exists.
One possibility under consideration is that the group devised the operation on its own, motivated by profit.
The Louvre, home to the Mona Lisa, welcomed about nine million visitors last year—well above its intended capacity—a volume that has intensified overcrowding concerns.
