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The Louvre and other great museum heists

The smash-and-grab heist at the world’s most visited museum is only the latest in many audacious art thefts.

By Danylo Hawaleshka

History Illustrated is a series of perspectives that puts news events and current affairs into historical context, using graphics generated with artificial intelligence.

History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — Audacious is one word often being used to describe the Louvre heist on October 19, 2025. Priceless Napoleonic jewellery, gone in just seven minutes, proving yet again that big art makes for a big target.

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History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — Back in 1911, for example, Vincenzo Peruggia and, some say, two accomplices, hid in the Louvre overnight. In the morning, Peruggia just quietly slipped out with the Mona Lisa. Police recovered the painting two years later in Florence.

History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — The theft of 13 artworks from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990 by two men disguised as police officers is often called the biggest property crime in US history, valued at over $500m at the time. Among the stolen items, a Vermeer painting, one of fewer than 40 in existence. Nothing’s ever been recovered.

History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — In 2000, three armed men sprang into action five minutes before Sweden’s national gallery in Stockholm closed. Two car bombs used as distractions and a speedboat getaway ensued. Two small Renoir paintings and a self-portrait by Rembrandt were eventually recovered.

History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — Two years later, two men used a ladder to get on the roof of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. They smashed a window to get in and used a rope to escape. The two stolen Van Gogh paintings were recovered in 2016 in Italy during a Mafia investigation.

History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — Some paintings just have the worst luck. A portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III is nicknamed ‘the takeaway Rembrandt’. It’s been stolen four times: in 1966, 1973, 1981 and 1983.

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History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — Another headline grabber: the Kunsthal heist in Rotterdam in 2012. Seven masterpieces, gone in less than three minutes after thieves broke in through a rear emergency exit. The paintings included works by Picasso and Matisse. The mother of one of the convicted men said she burned them all to protect her son, but later recanted her story.

History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — The Dresden Green Vault heist of 2019 featured a homemade bomb that cut the power. Two men then entered through a window, smashed showcases and made off with 4,300 diamonds and other valuable stones worth $130m. Five members of the Remmo crime family in Berlin were later convicted, with most of the valuables recovered.

History Illustrated: The Louvre and other great museum heists — The recent Louvre heist was lightning fast. Two masked men used power tools to enter through a window. They made off with eight pieces of priceless jewellery … but in their haste they dropped Empress Eugenie’s crown. All in all, a royal mess.