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The Louvre is once again opening the Apollo Gallery to the public on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. The space had been closed since the theft of eight Crown Jewels, nine months earlier. On the first floor of the Denon Wing, room 705 reopens without display cases or precious objects. The museum is refocusing the visit on its historic decor. The protection of the jewels and the future place where they will be exhibited remain, for now, at the center of the decisions to be made.
An Open Gallery, But Without Its Display Cases
The first change is immediately noticeable: the display cases and precious pieces are gone. In its reopening statement, the Louvre explains that it removed the collections. Paintings, sculptures, and circulation through the room now regain their full place. The Apollo Gallery resumes its role as a ceremonial gallery, designed to impress as much as to connect different parts of the palace.
To find the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre, you need to go to the first floor of the Denon Wing, room 705. At 61.34 meters long and 15 meters high, it covers about 600 square meters. It connects the Apollo Rotunda to the Salon Carré and opens onto the Grande Galerie. Its layout makes it both a monument and a passage within the museum.
The reopening therefore does not restore the previous presentation. The public gets the space back, but not the setting for the Crown Diamonds that helped make it famous. This choice makes the flow of visitors smoother and shifts the focus of the visit. Attention now turns to the ceiling, stucco, paintings, and the sweeping perspective.
The Decor Becomes The Main Attraction Again
The Apollo Gallery is older than the museum itself. After the fire that ravaged the Petite Galerie in 1661, Louis Le Vau was tasked with rebuilding the space. Charles Le Brun then devised a program dedicated to Apollo, god of the Sun and the arts. On the vault, his journey organizes the hours, the seasons, the elements, and the planets.
Work began under Louis XIV, then was interrupted when the court and artists turned their attention to Versailles. The decoration continued for more than two centuries, with contributions from artists such as François Girardon, Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, and Eugène Delacroix. This long history explains the space’s singular unity: a royal 17th-century decor completed in layers through the 19th century.
The Louvre also notes that this gallery served as a model for the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Seeing it without furniture or display cases makes that connection easier to read. The light there likewise celebrates power. Paintings and sculptures, too, turn a passageway into a political spectacle.
But emptiness is not neutral. It reveals the decor while making the absence of the jewels tangible. The new presentation can be understood as a return to the site’s architectural origins. It also directly responds to a risk the museum no longer wants to place on this room.
Eight Jewels Remain Missing
On October 19, 2025, two high-security display cases were targeted in the gallery. The alarms on the exterior window and the display cases were triggered. The five staff members present in the room and nearby areas then alerted law enforcement. They protected the public, with no injuries reported, according to the statement released after the theft.
An investigation for organized gang theft and criminal conspiracy was assigned to the banditry suppression squad. It is being carried out under the authority of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Nine months later, the eight jewels taken remain missing. Their value is estimated at 88 million euros, according to an AFP report distributed by France 24. That financial estimate, however, does not capture their historical and symbolic value.
These eight missing pieces should not be confused with Empress Eugénie’s crown. The thieves abandoned it during their escape, and it was recovered on site. The distinction is essential: the recovered crown is not among the eight jewels that authorities are still searching for.
A Vault Announced, But No Set Timeline
The jewels that were not stolen will not return to the gallery immediately. In an interview with Le Parisien, Louvre president Christophe Leribault announced the project for a secure room. Described as a “windowless vault,” it would be located in another part of the museum.
The announcement draws a lasting separation between the historic gallery and the Crown Jewels. It is not yet a finalized plan, however. The exact location, construction timeline, cost, and funding have not been made public. Christophe Leribault himself emphasized the need to find the right place and the necessary resources.
The July 22 reopening is therefore a step, not the completion of a new presentation of the collections. It returns a major space to the visitor route, while the future setting for the jewels remains to be designed. Until that room exists, the preserved objects stay out of the Apollo Gallery.
Security Is Not Just About Removing The Works
The day after the theft, the Ministry of Culture announced the rollout of a new security master plan. It includes next-generation cameras, perimeter detection, and a new control station. These measures apply to the Louvre as a whole. They do not, by themselves, make it possible to know exactly what was put in place around room 705 before its reopening.
Removing the jewels mechanically reduces the immediate risk in the gallery. There are no longer display cases holding such sensitive pieces in that space. But that decision only addresses part of the problem. Museum security also involves access, surveillance, team organization, and maintenance. It also requires protecting collections without keeping them out of the public eye for good.
The Louvre is thus moving forward on two timelines. In the short term, it is returning the gallery to the public by emptying it of its most exposed objects. In the longer term, it promises a strengthened space for the preserved jewels. Between the two remains a central question: how do you keep national heritage symbols accessible without turning their protection into invisibility?
What The Public Gets Back On July 22
To the question of whether the Apollo Gallery is open, the answer is now yes. The Louvre has set its reopening for Wednesday, July 22, 2026, subject to daily room-access conditions. Visitors can once again walk through room 705 and admire the Apollo Gallery ceiling. In doing so, they pass through a decor that began under Louis XIV.
They will not see the eight stolen jewels, still being sought, nor the other jewels once displayed in the cases. The gallery has once again become an independent architectural work. This clarification also marks the limit of the reopening. Access to the monument has been restored, but the public future of the collection remains tied to the vault project.
Nine months after the theft, the Louvre is choosing to reopen before resolving all the issues raised by the heist. The move makes it possible to return a masterpiece to the public. It also establishes, at least for now, a new policy: show the palace now. The display of the most sensitive assets will wait until a separate system can house them.
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