The Louvre reopened its Apollo Gallery to the public on Wednesday – with no jewelry on display – for the first time since more than $100 million worth of art was stolen in a broadside robbery last year.
Visitors are also welcome to explore the Apollo Gallery, one of the most famous historical sites in the Louvre. Its richly decorated 17th-century interior was made under the young king Louis XIV and decorated by the painter Charles Le Brun, who was inspired by the theme of the sun.
The treasures will be displayed elsewhere in the Paris museum in a more secure environment, its director, Christophe Leribault, who was appointed in February during a staff overhaul following the robbery, explained at the reopening on Wednesday.
He said “it is also an opportunity to rediscover the beautiful design and decoration of this gallery,” reported the Associated Press.
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France’s Culture Minister, Catherine Pégard, praised the reopening of the gallery, marking a new beginning for the famous museum after what it described as “worldwide trauma,” and promised to increase security at museums across the country, the American outlet said.
“That terrible day, when the symbolic pieces were taken, cannot be forgotten, and indeed, I believe, should not be.”
“It was a disaster for us, to find the weakness of an area that we thought was unshakable, and which, like many others, became vulnerable,” he continued.
A necklace and earrings from the emerald set of Napoleon 1’s second wife, Empress Marie Louise, are displayed at the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre on May 20, 2021.
MAEVA DESTOMBES/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
On October 19, 2025, around 9:30 am, masked thieves used a basket and grinding tools to break into the gallery on the second floor, smashing two display cases and stealing 88 million euros ($102 million) worth of crown jewels. They then fled behind the motorcycles driven by their two companions in less than seven minutes. By the time alarms alerted nearby workers, the attackers had disappeared.
The robbery happened about 30 minutes after the museum opened, with visitors already inside, and unfolded 250 meters from the Mona Lisa.
Four people suspected of direct involvement in the robbery have been charged and are in custody but nine months on, the stolen jewels have not been found, except for Empress Eugénie’s royal crown with more than 1,300 diamonds, which was found broken outside the museum shortly after the robbery.
Security at the Paris museum has since been beefed up with the addition of new surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems, part of a ten-year, 800 million euro ($933 million) plan to modernize security infrastructure, reduce overcrowding and give the Mona Lisa its own gallery.
The project follows criticism from France’s regional auditors’ office, which questioned the museum’s low spending on the protection and maintenance of infrastructure while buying new artefacts, only a quarter of which are open to the public, and spending more on post-pandemic reintroduction projects, Reuters reported.
The Louvre remains the most visited museum in the world, welcoming more than nine million visitors a year.
– via files from Reuters and the Associated Press
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