One of the most famous art heists in history was the 1911 theft of the "Mona Lisa." The 16th-century Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece was stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant who'd worked at the Louvre as a handyman and who smuggled the painting out of the building after hours by removing it from its frame and hiding it beneath his work coat.

On Sunday, thieves rode a basket lift up the Louvre’s facade, forced a window, smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.

In 2017, burglars at Berlin’s Bode Museum stole a 100-kilogram (220-pound) Canadian solid-gold coin known as the “Big Maple Leaf.”