In 2025, thieves stole roughly $100M of jewels from the Louvre

Breaking down the details on how the art heist at the Louvre unfolded

On October 19, 2025, several people dressed as construction workers climbed a construction lift and broke into the Louvre, stealing roughly $100M of crown jewels. This podcast breaks down the specifics of the heist.

In 2013, a lone bandit stole $136M in jewels from a luxury hotel in just 30 seconds

The robbery took place in broad daylight. Without any armed security guards present, the thief quickly stuffed a duffel bag with 72 precious items. They remain at large. The heist drew particular attention for its location—the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, which was prominently featured as a setting in Hitchcock's 1955 film "To Catch a Thief" about a reformed cat burglar.

Priceless paintings were quickly taken during a 2008 raid of a Zurich museum

Three men walked into Emil Bührle Foundation during open hours. One of the men pulled out a loaded gun and forced the museum staff to the floor, while the others stole four paintings close to the door. The stolen paintings included a Degas, a Monet, a Van Gogh, and a Cezanne, totaling a whopping $160M in stolen art.

The largest jewelry heist in US history resulted in $100M of jewelry stolen

Robbers stole the gems from a Brinks truck in Lebec, California, in July 2022. The truck was transporting the jewels to different jewelry shows in the state, and thieves stole diamonds, emeralds, gold, rubies, and designer watches while one driver was asleep and the other was getting food. Some of the stolen jewelry has been recovered.

Two men dressed as cops stole artwork from a Boston museum valued at over $500M at the time

On March 18, 1990, the thieves entered Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum pretending to be police officers responding to a disturbance. After overpowering and handcuffing the guards on duty, they stole 13 precious items, including works by Rembrandt and Manet. The theft is the largest art heist in US history. The pieces are still missing, and the museum is offering a $10M reward to anyone who provides valuable information about their location.

In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre and reached a new level of celebrity

One man carried out the crime relatively easily thanks to minimal security at the time. A former Louvre employee, he hid in a storage closet and swiped the painting the following morning. The disappearance caused a national stir, and people paid to come see the empty spot on the wall. The masterpiece was eventually returned in 1914.

Some robbers have been able to steal works of art with surprising ease

A number of heists have taken place in just a few minutes, relying on a small team and minor weapons. Once pieces are stolen, some are sold as high-quality replicas, leaving art collectors unknowingly holding original masterpieces in their collections.

Some estimate that roughly 70% of artifacts in museums are stolen

New York City assistant district attorney Matthew Bogdano targets the illicit art world. Bogdano claims that traders and traffickers of stolen art have often been able to get away with their crimes due to their connections with members of the elite. His efforts have led to the recovery of around 4,500 antiquities valued at around $300M.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Seventeen strange historical heists

High-dollar chocolate and cheese robberies to art thefts and audacious train robberies. Explore history's most peculiar stories of stealing with this list of seventeen tales of burglaries.

Americans touring the Louvre were inspired to create their own grand museums

The one-time royal residence was first transformed into a public museum in 1793 amid the French Revolution. Americans visiting in the early 1800s were both turned off by the aristocratic grandeur and compelled by the open access to the public. James Fenimore Cooper, the author of "The Last of the Mohicans," apparently came and measured the length of galleries.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Haute couture and horses: The Met’s most popular temporary exhibitions

In addition to the millions of pieces in its permanent collection, the Met regularly hosts temporary exhibitions that draw in even more visitors to the museum. This list of the ten most-visited exhibitions includes works from Picasso, Impressionist masterpieces, artifacts from Egypt’s King Tutankhamun’s tomb, and more. What was the most popular exhibit ever, with nearly 1.7 million visitors? You might be surprised.

The Louvre in Paris has its own particle accelerator for art analysis

The Accélérateur Grand Louvre d'analyse élémentaire serves as a noninvasive tool for identifying and quantifying trace elements present in artworks by analyzing how particles backscatter off targets. This information can help detect forgeries and determine a piece's provenance. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Louis Vuitton is considered LVMH's most valuable brand

Louis Vuitton consistently ranks among the world's top 10 most valuable global brands—it's worth an estimated $100B as of this writing.

22 fascinating discoveries of massive gold coin hoards

The gallery highlights major gold coin treasures from ancient to modern times, from the Saddle Ridge hoard in California in the 1800s (now worth $10M) to finds in Baltimore, Kentucky, and more. Each discovery reveals something about the period, with some buried and others left in vaults.

A unique art piece became the most expensive NFT when it sold for $92M

Non-fungible tokens sold for millions of dollars during their popularity peak from 2021 to 2022, with the top ten most expensive NFTs all costing upwards of $7M.

The World Cup trophy was stolen in 1966—and eventually found by a dog

While on display at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, England, the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen while a church service was being held in another room. It was eventually sniffed out a week later by Pickles, a black-and-white collie.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

The deadliest fireworks accident in history was Marie-Antoinette's wedding

In 1770, a fireworks display in Paris celebrating the marriage of Marie-Antoinette to the Dauphin, later known as Louis XVI, resulted in as many as 3,000 deaths. Most casualties were caused by trampling from a panicked crowd of thousands rushing away after some fireworks were blown into the spectators.

The locksmith who posthumously opened Prince's music vault

When legendary musician Prince died in 2016, he left behind thousands of unreleased songs in a locked vault, and no one knew the combination (even Prince had forgotten it before his death). Safecracker Dave McOmie was called in to break the 6,000-pound Mosler American Century vault by microdrilling into it and using a periscope to view the combination lock.

A funeral director lied and claimed he discovered a centuries-old Roman brooch

An amateur metal detectorist knowingly deceived thousands into believing he found an 1,800-year-old horse figurine. He received payment for the artifact to be featured in a museum, but he later admitted he bought the brooch online and planted it.

30,000 men known as the 'League of Broke Husbands' once protested Dior's luxury fashion designs

In the 1940s, these men living in post-war France were angry about the waste and cost of the fabric needed to make its luxury clothing. Today, Dior is owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Luxury Advent calendars now include fine china, jewelry, and rare whisky

Advent calendars have shifted sharply upmarket, with retailers offering versions filled with bone china ornaments, gold jewelry, premium beauty products and even rare whisky. Some cost hundreds or thousands of pounds, including a £10,000 whisky calendar and Dior's £570 perfume-filled set.

Family offices’ estimated wealth is expected to hit $9.5T by 2030

The number of family offices, and how much money under their management, is growing rapidly both in the US and around the world.

A brief introduction to modern-day pirates

Modern piracy is rarely punished and costs over $35M per day. Unlike the pirates of the past who often spent their lives living at sea, today's pirates typically operate from shore.

Visualizing cyberattacks by country

Cyber crime is expected to cost the global economy trillions per year by 2025. This data illustration showcases the countries with the most severe cyber attacks from 2006-2020.

After the owner fell into a Ponzi scheme, one braiding shop in suburban Maryland began making $130K a day by staying open for 24-hours

Because braiding often takes a long time, the salon prioritizes fast, efficient styles, with two braiders often working together on a client, which increases revenue by increasing turnover. The salon has 120 seats and more than 400 contracted braiders across its 10,000-square-foot space.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox