While the Louvre heist in October captured global attention, 2025 was seemingly a record year for art theft. Close to a dozen museums and institutions—from Brazil to France—were targeted, with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of artworks and artifacts stolen. Many have rightly wondered why so many robberies appear to be occurring this year. Several experts have pointed to inadequate or outdated security measures at the affected institutions. But there may also be an element of copycat novelty at play, as these brazen crimes inspire as much awe as outrage. Still, among the losses, there have been notable recoveries and arrests. Several of the most audacious robberies of recent years saw resolution in 2025 with—if not the return of the stolen works—at least the perpetrators behind bars. And, of course, Hollywood has continued to dramatize past heists in film and television. On Sunday, October 19, around 9:30 a.m., robbers broke into the Parisian museum‘s Apollo Gallery using a cherry picker and an angle grinder to steal nine pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $102 million in less than eight minutes. CCTV footage captured the thieves descending from a gallery window before fleeing the area on scooters. One of the nine pieces, a crown once belonging to Empress Eugénie, was subsequently recovered outside the Louvre. But by then the heist had both captured global attention and became a symbol of wounded national pride in France for the failure to protect some of the country’s most precious cultural treasures. In a hearing with the French senate, Louvre director Laurence des Cars said that alarms functioned properly and went off during the heist. But she admitted that the museum has “very inadequate” and “outdated” security systems in place. The Louvre has since rolled out a set of emergency security measures, but the full extent of the recommended security changes, according to a French national audit, are “not expected to be finished until 2032.” As for catching the thieves, A fifth suspect was charged in relation to the burglary earlier this month, while three men and one woman were previously charged. The missing jewels have been listed in Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art database, and the search continues as they have yet to be recovered by authorities. In light of the heist, the Louvre has transferred the remainder of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France for safekeeping. One month before the headline-grabbing Louvre heist, thieves targeted the Adrien Dubouché National Museum in Limoges, in central France. After smashing a window to break in around 3:15 a.m., the thieves made off with three porcelain works: “two particularly important dishes of Chinese porcelain … dating from the 14th and 15th centuries” and an 18th-century Chinese vase, all designated as “national treasures,” according to the museum. The institution initially valued the stolen pieces at nearly $11 million in an estimate provided to police. By the time officers arrived at the scene, the thieves had already fled. In a statement that would prove prescient, Limoges mayor Émile Roger Lombertie told reporters later, “The security system worked, but it may need to be reviewed. … All the world’s major museums have had items stolen at one time or another.” Also one month before the Louvre heist, the National Museum of Natural History in Paris was broken into, with several specimens worth an estimated €600,000 ($711,000) stolen. Intruders reportedly breached the museum early in the morning on September 16 using an angle grinder and a blowtorch, then made off with several valuable items from its collection. The haul included nuggets from Russia’s Ural region gifted by Tsar Nicholas I in 1833, as well as pieces discovered in California during the Gold Rush. In total, some 13 pounds of native gold were stolen. A 24-year-old Chinese national was later detained by authorities in Barcelona on September 30, before being handed over to French police on October 13. She was charged with theft and criminal conspiracy and placed in provisional detention. The suspect reportedly left France on the day of the burglary and planned to return to China. At the time of her arrest, she was allegedly attempting to dispose of nearly 2.2 pounds of melted gold. It remains unclear whether the museum’s alarm and surveillance systems, which had been disabled by a cyberattack in July, were operational at the time of the theft. The hits just kept coming for France this year. Just hours after the audacious daylight robbery at the Louvre, thieves stole nearly 2,000 gold and silver coins from the House of Enlightenment, Denis Diderot, in Langres, France, during a nighttime break-in. Investigators noted similarities to other museum robberies in recent months, including thefts at the Jacques Chirac Museum in Sarran, the National Adrien Dubouché Museum in Limoges, and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. It remains unclear whether the crimes are connected; however, authorities said the thieves at the Diderot museum “selected their loot with great expertise and precision.” French police are investigating the Diderot theft alongside the other three museum burglaries. France was far from the only country hit. In late January, a collection of artifacts from Romania were stolen in a heist at the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands. At roughly 3:45 in the morning, three hooded figures broke into the Dutch museum using explosives to open a locked door. Once inside, it took the thieves about three minutes to steal the Romanian objects and flee the museum. While the institution has round-the-clock surveillance, the museum only has guards on duty during the day. Among the stolen artifacts was the golden helmet of Coțofenești and three golden bracelets that dated back to the ancient Dacians, who inhabited parts of the Balkan region. The 5th century B.C.E. helmet was solid gold, weighing in at a little over two pounds, and featured elaborate decoration, including large studies and a scene sacrificing a lamb. It is believed to have been used in ceremonies. Though the cultural value of the items is “of incalculable value”, according to Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the stolen helmet is worth an estimated €4.3 million ($4.9 million) and the three stolen bracelets each carried an estimated value of €500,000 ($568,000). While Dutch police made multiple arrests and monetary rewards were offered for information, the artifacts have not been recovered. Just days before the Louvre heist—and across the Atlantic—more than 1,000 objects were stolen from the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)’s collection. On October 15, around 3:30 a.m., a thief or group of thieves broke into the museum’s off-site storage facility, making off with a wide range of items. Among them were six Native American baskets, several 19th-century scrimshaw objects, a number of daguerreotypes, modernist metalwork jewelry pieces, and historic memorabilia, including political pins, award ribbons, and souvenir tokens. Laptops and cameras were also taken. The thieves did not enter through a door, and no security staff were on duty at the time of the heist. Investigators later described the incident as “a crime of opportunity, not a targeted theft.” The stolen artifacts have yet to be recovered. The 100,000-square-foot warehouse houses more than two million historical artifacts, many of which have been donated to OMCA. It marks the third time OMCA has been hit by burglars in the past 15 years. Two high-profile thefts were carried out in 2012 and 2013 by Andre Taray Franklin, who was ultimately convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. In November, several artifacts were stolen from the National Museum of Damascus in Syria. The theft reportedly took place the night of November 9, and was discovered the next morning when a door was found broken. A number of items were reportedly taken, among them, gold ingots and six Hellenistic marble statues from the museum’s classical antiquities department. The theft is a blow to Syria’s arts and culture sector, which faced damage and looting during a 14-year civil war and the subsequent fall of the 54-year Assad regime last December. Proving that not even thieves take holidays, the Bristol Museum was robbed in early December, with over 600 artifacts stolen from the museum’s British Empire and Commonwealth collection. While authorities released CCTV footage of the suspects, no one has yet been arrested in connection with the theft. According to police, military memorabilia, jewelry, and historical artifacts ncluding a a carved ivory Buddha and a belt buckle from the East India Company uniform, were were among the objects stolen from the archive in Cumberland Basin area of Bristol. “These artifacts were part of a collection that documents the links between Britain and countries formerly part of the British Empire from the late 18th Century to the late 20th Century,” Philip Walker, head of culture and creative industries at Bristol City Council, which oversees the museum, told the BBC. 2025’s year of art heists showed no signs of letting up even as the year drew to a close. On December 7, two armed men broke into the Mario de Andrade Library in São Paulo, Brazil. The thieves made out with 13 artworks, including eight pochoir prints by French master Henri Matisse. The pieces were on view as part of the exhibition “From the Book to the Museum,” a collaboration with MAM São Paulo showing works from the 1940s and 1950s, when Brazilian modern art was engaged “in an intense debate between abstraction and figuration,” per the library. Despite quite a few major heists this year, there have also been a number of recovered items as well. Proof, perhaps, that not all museum loots end in loss. Twenty-four years ago, thieves entered the Church of San Francisco de Asis in Teotihuacán, about 25 miles northeast of Mexico City, under cover of night on January 6, 2001, stealing some 18 works of art, including Saint Francis of Assisi (1747), which had hung in the church for two centuries. In November, the church was reunited with its namesake painting. Created by an unknown artist, the six-foot-tall recovered piece is estimated to be worth 280,000 Mexican pesos ($15,000). When the theft occurred, the church promptly reported the theft to Interpol, and the work was later listed with the Art Loss Register, which lists some 700,000 missing artworks, antiques, and collectibles. Also stolen at the time were seven 17th-century miniature paintings that were integrated in the church’s altar, which remain missing, with the unidentified perpetrators still at large. “With thefts targeting public institutions and churches on the rise, this recovery offers hope not only to individual victims but to whole communities as well,” Charlotte Chambers-Farah, business development and client manager at the Art Loss Register said at the time of the return. “It’s a reminder that stolen cultural heritage, which has enormous historic value, can be returned to its rightful home.” The royal jewels returning to their display this year in Dresden, Germany, is another such example of recovery. Five members of a criminal gang broke into the Green Vault in a nighttime heist in November 2019. They were later caught and sentenced to six years in prison on charges of armed robbery, aggravated arson, and grievous bodily harm for stealing the trove of 18th-century jewelry last year. The group, known as the Remmo Clan, a family crime network operating in Germany, smashed the glass in the display cases using an axe, pocketed 21 pieces of jewelry, and fled within five minutes. The looted Saxon royal artifacts contain more than 4,300 diamonds and is collectively valued at €114 million (about $125 million). Located in the city’s Royal Palace, the Grünes Gewölbe, or Green Vault, was started as a dedicated effort for storing precious metals, art, and artifacts collected by Saxon elector August the Strong, who later become king of Poland from 1723 and 1729. The Green Vault reopened to the public with an exhibition restored to “almost all its glory”, with the majority of the jewels having been recovered. A large breast bow of Queen Amalie Auguste, made of 611 small diamonds, silver and gold, and an epaulet that includes the so-called Saxon White diamond, is still among the items missing. Five of seven valuable 18th-century snuffboxes stolen last year from Paris’s Cognacq-Jay Museum were also recovered this year. The snuffboxes were on display as part of the “Pocket Luxury” exhibition, when they were taken by masked thieves in a daylight robbery in November 2024. The boxes, once used to hold powdered tobacco, were decorated with gold, precious stones, mother-of-pearl, or enamel and estimated to be worth at least €1 million ($1.16 million). Two of the five boxes recovered were on loan to the museum from the Louvre in Paris, two were from the British royal family’s Royal Collection Trust in the UK, and one was from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Two more, one belonging to the V&A and one from the Royal Collection are still missing. The objects were recovered through Paris Musées, an organization that manages several of Paris’s city museums. In addition to some returns, there were also a number of theft-related convictions. One includes a judge who sentenced two men who stole Maurizio Cattelan‘s 18-carat gold toilet during a 2019 raid at England’s Blenheim Palace. On September 14, 2019, around 5 a.m., James Sheen and his accomplices drove two stolen vehicles through the palace’s locked gates. The group used sledgehammers and crowbars to break into the palace and remove the toilet. They then loaded it into the back of one of the vehicles before escaping. Sheen contacted Frederick Doe in the days following the burglary about selling the gold using coded messages. The pair discussed a pay out of £26,500 ($34,500) per kilogram of the stolen gold. The 227-pound toilet, titled “America” (2016), was dismantled in a five-minute raid only two days after it was publicly displayed in England. The piece, which first appeared at the Guggenheim Museum in New York several years earlier, was featured in an exhibition of the artist’s work at the 18th-century castle and family home of Winston Churchill. Sheen was convicted of the theft and received a four year prison sentence, while Michael Jones, who staked out the palace, received a 27-month prison sentence. A jury at Oxford Crown Court previously found Jones guilty of burglary and Doe guilty of conspiracy to convert or transfer criminal property. Sheen, a builder who employed Jones, previously pleaded guilty to burglary. Sheen was previously sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 240 hours of community service. Insured for approximately $6 million, the toilet still has not been recovered. Crime, as they say, doesn’t pay. That adage proved true this year in February when three suspects were convicted as part of a multi-heist art theft ring, with one receiving a prison sentence. Nicholas Dombek, Damien Boland, and Joseph Atsus were convicted on February 7 for conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment and disposal of major artwork, and interstate transportation of stolen property. The three individuals were also convicted of “multiple related substantive offense” after a four-week jury trial. Thomas Trotta, who was also part of a crime ring, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison on March 13. His sentence also included a requirement to repay $2.8 million in restitution. The gang was part of a multi-state investigation into thefts spanning two decades across 20 museums, institutions, and stores in six states and Washington, D.C. The stolen items included Warhol’s silkscreen work Le Grande Passion (1984) and Pollock’s oil painting Springs Winter (1949) from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 2005, and a $500,000 Jasper Cropsey painting that was taken in 2011 from Ringwood Manner in New Jersey. In addition to the artworks, Trotta also admitted to the thefts of commemorative rings and MVP sports plaques with an estimated value of $500,000 from the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey. Further investigation into these burglaries also implicated Trotta in the theft of a Tiffany lamp, as well as boxing, horse racing, baseball, and golf items. After the members of the ring stole the targeted items, they would transport the stolen goods back to northeastern Pennsylvania, often to the residence of Dombek, and melt the memorabilia down into easily transportable metal discs or bars. The conspirators would then sell the raw metal to fences (resellers who knowingly buy stolen goods to resell them for profit) in the New York City area for hundreds or a few thousands of dollars, far less than what the items were worth. Three men were convicted for stealing 483 ancient Celtic gold coins from the Kelten Römer Museum in Manching, Germany, in November 2022. As part of the heist, the thieves cut off the telephone service and internet connection for the entire city of Manching so that the institution was unable to contact local authorities while the event was taking place. The four men were arrested last summer in northern Germany, following a police search of 28 homes, businesses, vehicles, and a boathouse. One of the suspects was found in possession of a plastic bag filled with gold that matched the composition of the stolen Celtic coins, indicating that some had been melted down, with 70 of the coins reportedly lost. Using DNA evidence, investigators also linked three of the four men to a string of robberies across both Germany and Austria dating back to 2014. A court in Ingolstadt convicted the four defendants of gang robbery; one was acquitted of involvement in the Kelten Römer Museum heist, but was convicted for other thefts associated with the group. The court individually sentenced the men to prison sentences ranging from four years and nine months to 11 years. The 2,000-year-old coins were discovered during an excavation at an archaeological town near Manching in 1999. They are thought to date back the 3rd century BCE and are valued at approximately several million euros (though the material is only worth about €250,000, or about $278,000). If this year’s heists haven’t captured your imagination—or, conversely, have left you wanting more—Hollywood has offered its own interpretations. Kelly Reichardt’s 2025 film The Mastermind centers on an art heist. Set in the 1970s, the film stars Josh O’Connor as the ringleader of a group of men who break into the fictional Framingham Museum of Art to pilfer several paintings by American modernist Arthur Dove. Though the heist depicted in the film is—spoiler alert—not real, it is inspired by the 1972 theft at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, when two robbers made off with four paintings, including one Rembrandt, one Picasso, and two Gauguins. Reality sometimes really is stranger than fiction. Just a week after a theft at the Louvre captured global attention, the action-packed television series High Potential released an episode centered on a high-profile art heist involving a Rembrandt. In “The One That Got Away,” Morgan Gillory, a single mother of three who helps the Los Angeles Police Department solve its most difficult cases, and her partner, detective Adam Karadec, investigate a museum theft involving the $20 million Rembrandt painting Young Girl Leaning on a Windowsill. Though the episode ends on a cliffhanger, Morgan offers a series of insights into the crime—an entertaining way to get inside the mind of a thief. The show more likely alludes to the infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, which saw 13 artworks stolen in 1990, including three Rembrandts. Yet the method used to steal the painting in High Potential seems to have eerily anticipated the Louvre theft.