Louvre heist adds to history of high-profile museum breaches, leaves other galleries on edge

While the daring Sunday robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris continues to capture worldwide attention, it's not the first time priceless artifacts have been stolen from the museum's collection — and it's almost certainly put other museums on high alert about safeguarding their own treasures.

Thieves looted France’s most famous crown jewels, including an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, as Fox News Digital previously reported about the Louvre heist. 

RARE 10-CARAT BLUE DIAMOND AMONG $100M WORTH OF GEMS GOING UP FOR AUCTION

Prosecutors revealed Monday that a vest, bottle of liquid and equipment left behind at the scene are now being examined. 

The brazen Sunday theft — which has prompted a security review at the Louvre, Reuters reported, as well as reviews at other cultural sites — brings to mind another robbery that occurred over a century ago in the same location.   

In August 1911, "panic broke out at the Louvre" when Leonardo da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa" was found to have disappeared.

A thief had swiped the painting from its frame — and escaped with it by hiding the work of art under his coat.

"The news [of the theft] spread like wildfire and generous rewards were promised for her return," the Louvre recounts on its website. 

Thieves executed a daytime heist Sunday at the Louvre Museum in Paris.  (Thibault Camus: AP)

Two years later, Vincenzo Peruggia — a glazier who had worked at the Louvre — tried to sell the da Vinci masterpiece that he'd stolen to an Italian art dealer.

The dealer alerted authorities — and the world’s most famous painting was ultimately returned to the Louvre. Peruggia was arrested and served only a short prison term for the theft, according to History.com and other sources. 

Unsolved mystery in Boston

Another heist, far more recent, took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains unsolved to this day. 

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Two men disguised as local police officers entered the museum in the early hours of March 18, 1990, saying they were responding to a call of a disturbance, according to The Associated Press.

The men overtook two security guards and tied them up with duct tape.

Thirteen works of art were stolen in March 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The empty frames left by the thieves hang in the museum to this day.  (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The thieves were able to steal 13 pieces of art, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet, in the approximately 81 minutes they spent there. 

The masterpieces, including Rembrandt’s "Storm on the Sea of Galilee," were estimated to be worth as much as half a billion dollars at the time of the heist.

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The empty frames left by the thieves still hang in the museum to this day. "It's an intentional choice designed to send a message to the public — a reminder of what was lost and hope that what was once there will someday return," according to the FBI's website.  

Gold nuggets gone

In September 2025, just a month before the most recent Louvre heist, thieves broke into Paris' Natural History Museum. They stole gold samples worth about $700,000, according to Agence France-Presse and the museum itself. 

 It is a "critical time for cultural institutions."

The intruders were said to have used an angle grinder and a blow torch to force their way into the complex, as Artnet.com and others reported. 

It prompted a museum spokesperson to declare that this is a "critical time for cultural institutions" in France, the same source noted.

Gem and mineral specimens of note

A number of prominent museums around the world house highly valuable collections.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History contains a collection known as "one of the world’s largest of its kind" for gem and mineral specimens, according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

The Hope Diamond is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The museum’s national gem and mineral collection comprises some 350,000 mineral specimens and 10,000 gems.

The star of the show is the Hope Diamond, with a weight of 44 carats to 45.5 carats, according to the Smithsonian. 

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The large stone is described as a "fancy dark grayish-blue" color; it first belonged to King Louis XIV.

Meanwhile, the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, has the largest collection of decorative art and jewelry by Carl Fabergé.

The Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia has the largest collection of decorative art and jewelry by Carl  Fabergé. (OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images)

Some of the most notable items include the Hen Easter Egg, gifted by Emperor Alexander III to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, for Easter in 1885.

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The Coronation Easter Egg, gifted by Emperor Nicholas II to his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna for Easter in 1897, is also on display.

Reuters contributed reporting.