Louvre's Apollo Gallery reopens - stripped bare after €88m jewel theft

The Louvre is reopening its Galerie d'Apollon, or Apollo Gallery, on Wednesday, nine months after a spectacular jewel theft, but visitors will find the ornate hall stripped of the jewels and art treasures that once filled it.

The museum's director, Christophe Leribault, told the newspaper Le Parisien that the valuables would in future be kept in a windowless vault.

Eight valuable pieces of jewellery estimated to be worth around €88 million ($100 million) were stolen from the gallery in the break-in in mid-October 2025. They have not been recovered. The crown of Empress Eugénie, which was damaged during the theft, is currently being restored.

Leribault described the reopening as a fresh start for the gallery. Rather than leaving the room with empty display cases as a reminder of the former exhibition, he said the space should once again come into its own as a grand gallery.

The Apollo Gallery is considered one of the most magnificent rooms in the Louvre. Its ceilings were designed by Charles Le Brun and later added to by, among others, Eugène Delacroix.

Leribault compared the hall to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, describing it as a piece of the original royal palace that visitors could rediscover in the museum today.