Sky York Journal
The Louvre just found itself in a real-life heist movie.
Minutes after opening Oct. 19, the famed Parisian museum—the world’s most visited—was broken into, with a group of four thieves walking away with nine pieces of France’s crown jewels.
The heist, according to NBC News, citing officials, was executed with a monte-meuble—a truck with an aerial lift often used to move furniture to the upper levels of a building. The thieves navigated to the balcony outside the Galerie d’Apollon and sliced through the window to gain entry.
They threatened the museum staff with angle-grinders—a tool used for grinding and polishing—then smashed the jewels’ display cases, officials said, taking necklaces, tiaras and brooches, all within seven minutes. Authorities confirmed there were no injuries among the museum’s staff.
Among the objects taken was an emerald and diamond necklace and matching earrings Napoleon Bonaparte gave to his wife Marie Louise as well as a sapphire necklace by Napoleon’s stepdaughter Hortense.