It’s exhilarating to watch a thief infiltrate the world’s largest museum with brains, heart and grit — fans of Lupin know the feeling. But witnessing it happen in real life, with much less toil, is its own cultural breeding ground. When four suspects arrived at 9:30 a.m. to the Galerie d’Apollon, the home of the French Crown Jewels, they catalyzed a polarizing discourse on French social media, one that raises important questions about the right to preserve culture in the colonized world.
To understand the discourse, it is important to understand how truly French this situation is. The Galerie d’Apollon, one of over 400 rooms in the sprawling Louvre, was renovated by Louis XIV and turned into the space that it is today. It inspired the iconic Hall of Mirrors in Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles. To make matters worse, according to the BBC, among the eight stolen items were the tiara and brooch of the wife of Napoleon III, Empress Eugénie, and emerald jewelry belonging to Empress Marie Louise.
With French cultural artifacts at stake, it makes sense that extreme-right French influencers are using their platforms to complain. Tony Pittaro, a Parisian, right-wing influencer, interviewed Pierre-jean Chalençon (what’s more French than that name?), who advocates for the sanctity of France. All following quotes have been translated from French to English.
“There are protests everywhere. There is no more service. We are wondering what is left of France,” Chalençon says passionately. “What I understand is that four men entered by a ladder, and they simply broke the windows. I mean, hello? Hello?”
He was outraged, saddened even.
“It’s apocalyptic. We can’t walk on the street anymore. We are not in Africa, we are not in the Middle East. We are in Paris. … It’s an attack on the history of France. On our heritage,” Chalençon continues.
In turning to racism as an outlet for his anger, Chalençon raises an important point: cultural artworks are important to national identity, and France has no right to hold onto those of its former West African colonies.
“The Louvre museum was robbed,” Wilhelm, an activist on French TikTok, says in a video on his Instagram. “So this is maybe an opportunity to remind you that the inventories of French museums are filled with thousands and thousands of objects stolen during colonization.”
He explains how artifacts significant to cultural heritage have been stolen from Sub-Saharan Africa by colonial powers.
In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron made a bold, reductive pledge to complete the restitution of African heritage within five years. It’s been quite a few since then, and France has returned 26 artworks to Benin after its conquest of the Dahomey kingdom in 1872. In 2022, 90% of the cultural artifacts still remained outside of the continent of Africa. As of 2023, at least 10 countries have requested their stolen objects to no avail.
Wilhelm explains that while thousands of objects were stolen, much of them are collecting dust in the inventories of these French museums. There is a sneaky, almost criminal practice happening: the French government hides loot in these inventories without exhibiting them. More than 3,700 objects from Benin are still in the Musée du Quai Branly, but the exact numbers remain unknown.
What’s even more criminal is that France passed a bill in August 2025 to outline the restitution of looted art, without even mentioning the word “colonization.” To many, this bill seems to underscore France’s control over the restitution process. The French government now requires proof that the object was unfairly taken or looted, which is made even more difficult when countries do not have access to the objects of their histories.
Amid the anger, the absurdity of stealing from such a powerful institution manifests strongly as humor on the internet.
“If the French state can steal half of West Africa’s heritage and call it a museum, I guess karma finally caught the metro line 1,” says Louis Pisano, a Parisian fashion critic and journalist, in English. After calling the Louvre a “high-end colonial storage unit,” Pisano posted a video of himself in front of screenshots of the jewelry for sale on Vinted.
An AI-generated video of Macron getting into a golf cart with the jewelry is circulating, as well as a photo of a very French, dapper man who everyone thought was a detective.
It’s impossible not to laugh. A colonizer is finally facing its actions. France knows now what it’s like to have its cultural heritage stolen unfairly, and with Frenchness deeply rooted in preserving tradition, it feels like a perfect crime.
This tight grip on tradition, with France’s Hausmanian architecture and a $737 million restoration of Notre Dame, makes sense. After all, French artists, artisans and politicians have changed the course of history, and Paris plays a major role on the global stage — but this prowess does not come without a terrible cost. As a colonial power, it’s time for France to pay a little.
Alexandria Fennell is a senior in the College of Human Ecology. She can be reached at acf65@cornell.edu.
