The Louvre Museum reopened its Apollo Gallery to visitors on Wednesday, nine months after the theft of crown jewels worth $102 million exposed major security failings. The historic gallery is open again, but its jewels have been moved to a more secure location.
Visitors can once again admire the Apollo Gallery's richly decorated 17th-century interior, one of the Louvre's most celebrated historic spaces. However, the jewels will now be displayed elsewhere in the Paris museum in a more secure location, Louvre director Christophe Leribault said.
The gallery, created during the reign of the young King Louis XIV, served as the inspiration for the glittering Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
It was designed by architect Louis Le Vau and decorated by painter Charles Le Brun around the theme of the sun in honour of Louis XIV.
Culture Minister Catherine Pégard hailed the gallery's reopening as a symbol of a new beginning for the museum after what she described as a "trauma for the whole world", while pledging to strengthen security at museums nationwide.
In October, two men parked a movers' lift outside the Louvre in broad daylight and used it to reach the second floor. They smashed a window, broke open display cases with angle grinders and fled on scooters driven by two accomplices in a heist lasting less than seven minutes.
Four people suspected of direct involvement in the robbery have been charged and remanded in custody.
However, the stolen items remain missing, apart from a crown belonging to Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, which was found damaged near the museum and is currently undergoing restoration.
In February, Laurence des Cars, who led the museum at the time of the heist, resigned after facing intense criticism over the robbery, as well as strikes over pay and working conditions.
Critics, including the state auditors' office, questioned the museum's limited spending on security and infrastructure maintenance while investing heavily in new acquisitions and post-pandemic reopening projects.
They also raised concerns that only around a quarter of the museum's collection is on public display despite significant spending on expansion and renewal efforts.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Norway for talks about the Russia-Ukraine war. He is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Oslo earlier. Witkoff will also meet European officials.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said regional issues should be resolved through diplomacy and blamed the United States for insecurity and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, speaking at a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.
Yemen's Houthis have denied targeting the holy city of Medina on Wednesday adding that they have not conducted any military operations towards Saudi Arabia either, denying earlier comments from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
French authorities imposed local curfews in parts of Paris, Lille and Nice on Monday after a weekend of riots and looting linked to nationwide anti-government protests, as the government faced mounting criticism over security failures.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, with discussions focused on the war in Ukraine and the prospects for progress in ongoing diplomatic efforts.
A former gang leader was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday for orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting death of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, capping the prosecution of a long-unsolved murder that shaped the golden age of rap music.
Here’s your AnewZ Daily Brief for 14 October 2026, featuring the top five culture and entertainment stories from around the world.
Two paintings by French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir worth millions of dollars have been recovered a month after they were stolen from a French Riviera museum. Four men have been charged in connection with the theft, while two other suspects have been released without charge.
Iran has unveiled the restored mausoleum of 13th-century mystic Shams Tabrizi in the northwestern city of Khoy, with plans for a cultural tourism route linking the site to the shrine of renowned Persian poet Rumi in Konya, Türkiye.
AnewZ has premiered its new documentary film Kontrapunkt in Berlin, exploring more than two centuries of shared German-Azerbaijani history and the legacy of German communities in Azerbaijan.
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