Louvre Closed After Robbery

Europe|Louvre Closed After Robbery

A robbery took place on Sunday morning at the Louvre Museum in Paris, according to French officials.

It was not immediately clear what, if any, of the museum’s priceless artifacts had been stolen. Rachida Dati, the French culture minister, said only that there were no injuries and that the police were on the scene.

“Investigations are underway,” she wrote on X. There was no immediate comment from the Paris police.

The museum said on social media it would be closed on Sunday for “exceptional reasons.”

The Louvre is home to more than 33,000 works of art, including many sculptures, paintings and antiques. Among the most famous pieces is Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Up to 30,000 people visit the museum each day.

There have been a number of high-profile heists at the Louvre. During the summer of 1911, a museum employee stole the Mona Lisa. The employee, Vincenzo Peruggia, was arrested two years later while trying to sell the painting in Italy, and the Mona Lisa was returned to the museum.

Another high-profile theft took place in 1976, when three burglars broke into the Louvre at dawn and stole a 19th-century diamond-studded sword belonging to King Charles X of France. The thieves climbed up a metal scaffolding and smashed windows on the second floor, breaking into the museum. And in 1990, a painting by Pierre Auguste Renoir, “Portrait of a Seated Woman,” was cut from its frame and stolen from a third-floor gallery.

This is a developing story.

Jenny Gross contributed reporting.