Museum heists including Louvre theft in October spark global security concerns

Following the recent heist at the Louvre in Paris — the world’s most visited museum — security measures at museums have come under scrutiny for apparently very good reason. 

A leaked report by France’s supreme audit body Cours de Compte indicated serious concerns about security systems at the treasured museum.

The report alleged the facility had a “chronic under-investment in information systems,” as Reuters noted. 

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It was also revealed this week that the surveillance system password was apparently just “LOUVRE” — making it easy for robbers to hack into the system, as other outlets reported.

On Oct. 19, a four-person team broke into the Apollo Gallery in broad daylight and stole eight jewels valued collectively at 88 million euros ($102 million). Seven people have been arrested for roles in the crime, with four suspects formally charged.

Fox News Digital contacted the Louvre to ask whether the heist is affecting its security measures, but the museum said it does not “discuss security matters.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to several major museums in the U.S. seeking comment about potential upgrades to their security systems, but did not immediately hear back.  

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The Louvre has faced theft before, joining a long history of high-profile art heists.

Read on for just a few.

Swiped from its frame

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, as Fox News Digital previously noted. 

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

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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.

After the dealer alerted authorities, 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.

Remains unsolved

Another heist, far more recent, took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. 

It remains unsolved to this day.

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.

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

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.

‘Critical time’

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.

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

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It prompted a museum spokesperson to declare that this is a “critical time for cultural institutions” in France. 

And at the country mansion of Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born, a thief stole a golden toilet in 2018.

The toilet was an art installation titled “America” by Maurizio Cattelan. It was made of 18-carat gold and insured for around $6 million, according to AP.

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Armed with sledgehammers and crowbars, the thief smashed a window to enter the home while prying the toilet from its plumbing within five minutes — later escaping in a stolen car.

Symbol of ‘renaissance’ 

On Friday, the Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, said the diamond and emerald-studded crown of Empress Eugénie, which was found damaged outside the museum after apparently being dropped during the Oct. 19 robbery, will be restored as a symbol of “renaissance,” AP reported. 

Only Empress Eugénie’s imperial crown, with more than 1,300 diamonds, was recovered on the day of the robbery outside the museum.

Des Cars said the crown was likely damaged when it was removed from its display case through a “small cut” made by a disc cutter used by the thieves, rather than when it fell to the ground.

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch, plus The Associated Press and Reuters, contributed reporting.