The Louvre museum in Paris remains closed to the public today (20 October) after thieves stole eight "priceless" jewellery from the institution's Apollo gallery on Sunday (19 October).
The world's most-visited museum closed suddenly yesterday after a break-in at its Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo), home to the French crown jewels.
The seven-minute raid took place in broad daylight, just after the Louvre opened on Sunday.
Four masked thieves used a truck equipped with a mechanical lift to gain access to the gallery via a balcony close to the River Seine.
They entered the museum by cutting through glass panes with a battery-powered disc cutter, before threatening the guards, smashing the glass display cases, and taking the jewels.
In response to the heist, French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said (via the BBC): "People were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image."
The stolen items include a diamond and emerald necklace that Emperor Napoleon gave to his wife, as well as a jewelled headband with nearly 2,000 diamonds, and a necklace containing eight sapphires and 631 diamonds.
French police continue hunt for thieves
Chris Marinello, the chief executive of Art Recovery International, told BBC World Service's Newshour programme: "There is a race going on right now."
He said the thieves "are not going to keep [the items] intact, they are going to break them up, melt down the valuable metal, recut the valuable stones and hide evidence of their crime".
The French police "know that in the next 24 or 48 hours, if these thieves are not caught, those pieces are probably long gone," Marinello added.
"They may catch the criminals but they won't recover the jewels," he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote in a statement on X: “The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage we cherish because it is part of our history.
"We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.”
Macron also said that the Louvre's transformation project, launched in January, "includes enhanced security".
Images courtesy of the Louvre
