Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The world-famous Louvre Museum in Paris, central to novelist Dan Brown’s blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, and a Hollywood film of the same title, reopened on Wednesday, three days after a sensational, daylight robbery in which criminals stole eight of the nine targeted items, worth USD 102 million, and disappeared on scooters, all within seven minutes.
The Louvre, world’s most-visited museum, resumed online ticket sales and reopened to visitors on Wednesday after remaining closed for three days since Sunday following one of the most daring heists ever, anywhere, the media reported.
According to a France 24 report, Museum Director Laurence des Cars will appear before a French Senate Cultural Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about the museum’s security. Des Cars, who has led the Louvre since 2021, has not spoken publicly since the daylight robbery took place on Sunday.
The robbery raised fresh questions about security at French museums as security upgrades at the Louvre were delayed, and only a quarter of one wing had video surveillance. Des Cars warned the government earlier this year about the “worrying level of obsolescence” and the need for urgent renovations.
French prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the robbery caused an estimated €88 million (USD 102 million) in losses. Thieves stole eight priceless royal jewels, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon-I to his wife and a diamond-studded diadem that belonged to Empress Eugénie.
Even in September, thieves stole two dishes and a vase from a museum in Limoges, worth around USD 7.6 million. Labour unions in France have also criticised the Louvre for cutting security staff even as the number of visitors has grown.
In a meticulously executed seven-minute operation, a gang of professional thieves made off with royal jewels, just 250 meters from Leonardo da Vinci’s world-famous painting of Mona Lisa.
Authorities revealed that the robbers spent barely four minutes inside the museum. Using a freight lift positioned near the Seine-facing façade, they pried open a window, smashed two glass cases, and escaped with the treasures before museum guards could even reach the scene. The alarms did trigger in time for agents to respond, but by then, the robbers had vanished into Paris traffic.
Eyewitness accounts have lent a cinematic touch to the entire incident. A local cyclist named Samir told French channel TF1 that he saw “two men get on the hoist, break the window, and enter…it took 30 seconds.” Moments later, he saw four persons speeding away on Yamaha TMax scooters. Samir immediately alerted the police, but the criminals had already vanished.
The Louvre’s security agency, in coordination with Paris police, has since intensified the manhunt for what they describe as an “experienced and highly organized” gang. The robbery occurred less than a km from the Paris police headquarters, adding to the embarrassment for local law enforcement.
As the search continues, social media turned the heist into a pop-culture spectacle. An AI-generated video depicting a dramatized version of the robbery has gone viral, amassing millions of views within hours. The slickly produced clip shows masked men on scooters weaving through Paris streets- a near-perfect visual parallel to scenes from popular action films.
Fans and online users quickly drew comparisons to the 2006 Bollywood blockbuster Dhoom 2, where superstar Hrithik Roshan’s character, Aryan, executes a daring Louvre heist, disguised as a statue. The uncanny similarity led one X user to quip, “There’s a theft at the Louvre Museum, but the contents are straight out of Dhoom 2.”
Another viral post read, “It’s been 48 hours since the Louvre heist- no arrests, no jewels recovered. Proof that movies might not be fiction after all. Ready for Dhoom 4?”
The Louvre Museum was central to the plot of Dan Brown’s magnum opus, The Da Vinci Code, serving as the starting point for the mystery after a murder takes place within its walls.
The museum’s iconic glass pyramid and the underground inverted pyramid are key locations, with the latter being the site of the book’s fictional climax where the protagonist Robert Langdon claims a hidden tomb is located.