This Week's Shocking Louvre Robbery Isn't the First Heist—an Employee Previously Stole the Mona Lisa

Obviously, if you've been to the Louvre anytime recently, you know the Mona Lisa is very much on display, protected by a climate-controlled, bulletproof case. The painting was recovered two years after the theft and the thief (who was Italian) claimed he did it because he believed the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece rightfully belonged in Italy.

But the Mona Lisa isn’t the only artwork that’s gone missing. In 1998, the museum lost Le Chemin de Sèvres, a 19th-century painting by Camille Corot. Unlike the Mona Lisa, it hasn’t been recovered to this day.

More recently, in November 2024, the BBC reports that seven artifacts of "great historic and heritage value" were stolen from the Cognacq-Jay Museum in Paris, five of which were only recently recovered. That same month, armed robbers stormed the Hieron Museum in Burgundy, fired shots and escaped with millions of pounds’ worth of 20th-century art.

And just before the Louvre’s latest heist, thieves broke into the Adrien Dubouché Museum in Limoges and made off with porcelain works reportedly worth $11 million.

Now, personally, I don’t get the whole stealing-art thing. Like…aren’t they incredibly hard to hide? At least with jewelry (shoutout Ocean’s 8), you can break it down and turn it into something else. But artwork? Super recognizable.

Those are just my two cents. But seriously, how about we just…stop stealing stuff?

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