An investigation into organized theft and criminal conspiracy to commit crime has been launched by the Paris public prosecutor’s office, a source inside the office told NBC News.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said on X that “no injuries were reported.”
“I am on site alongside museum staff and the police. Investigations are ongoing,” she said.
The museum’s official X account said the Louvre would be closed for the rest of the day “for exceptional reasons.”
The theft is just the latest in a wave of heists hitting cultural institutions across France.
Thieves broke into the National Museum of Natural History in Paris last month and made off with samples of raw gold worth about $700,000, officials said.
The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum, hosts millennia of civilization’s greatest treasures. Its most famous work of art is the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci, a 16th-century portrait which depicts an Italian noblewoman with a mysterious smile.
It’s rare for the Louvre to close its doors.
It has happened during war, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in a handful of strikes.
The museum was shut down in June by its own striking staff, who said the facility was crumbling under the weight of mass tourism.
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