Nearly a year after the "Heist of the Century" at the Louvre's Apollo Gallery, its doors reopen tomorrow

Paris, July 21 (KUNA) -- Nearly nine months after what some have called the “crime of the century,” the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre Museum in the French capital, Paris, will reopen to the public tomorrow, Wednesday. The gallery will be reopened in the presence of French Minister of Culture Catherine Pégard, despite only one of the eight stolen royal jewels being recovered since the theft on October 19, 2025.

Just minutes into the daylight hours of October 19, 2025, a group of thieves entered the exhibition hall using a bucket truck (aerial platform truck) and stole eight jewels from the French royal crown, valued at approximately 88 million euros ($100.4 million), including crowns, tiaras, brooches, and earrings that had belonged to Empress Eugénie, Empress Marie Louise, and Queen Marie Amélie.

With the exception of one item recovered on the day of the theft, the remaining stolen pieces remain missing, and investigators continue their inquiries.

The robbery of the Louvre shocked the world and exposed significant security vulnerabilities in the world’s most-visited museum, which attracts around nine million visitors annually.

The renowned gallery, a golden room with a ceiling height of up to 15 meters, will welcome visitors again. However, Louvre Director Christophe Leribault indicated that “the collections and precious objects” will remain in a vault until a secure, windowless room is built.

The theft also triggered a crisis within the museum, leading to the replacement of its former director, Laurence des Cars, with Christophe Leribault. A parliamentary committee on museum security in France is scheduled to convene in mid-May 2027. (End) M.B. / F.L.A.