wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\nThree masked thieves were involved in the crime, which took place in the Apollon Gallery on the second floor of the museum, overlooking the River Seine, at a part of the building where construction work is currently taking place.<\/p>\n
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The group were hooded and were carrying \u201csmall chainsaws,\u201d according to Le Parisien.<\/p>\n
One of the robbers waited outside for the others before they made their escape.<\/p>\n
They made off on two scooters, heading in the direction of the A6 highway, traveling southeast out of Paris, video surveillance footage shows.<\/p>\n
A third scooter was found abandoned after the escape, a police source told AFP.<\/p>\n
Jewelry pieces from Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s collection were stolen in the brazen heist. Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n
As well as the French Crown Jewels, the Appollon Gallery also houses a hardstone vessel collection that once belonged to French King Louis XIV, as well as the famous Regent diamond, weighing at over 140 carats.<\/p>\n
No one was injured in the raid, French Culture Minister Rachida Dati told reporters at the scene.<\/p>\n
Police quickly swarmed on the gallery after the robbery was revealed, sparking panic among visitors.<\/p>\n
Empress Eug\u00e9nie\u2019s crown was allegedly swiped and broken during the robbery. Wouter Engler via WIkipedia<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police were running near the pyramid and trying to enter the Louvre through the side glass doors, but they were locked and impossible to open,\u201d visitor Kacie told Le Parisien.<\/p>\n
There are fears the thieves will melt down the jewelry to resell the gold, making it hard to track, according to insiders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe risk is that some of the diamonds could be sold at retail, which would make reconstituting the jewels very difficult,\u201d a source close to the investigation told Le Parisien.<\/p>\n
The thieves stole jewels of \u201cinestimable value,\u201d according to officials. Mus\u00e9e du Louvre<\/p>\n
The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. Mus\u00e9e du Louvre<\/p>\n
\u201cAll means are already being implemented to recover the loot,\u201d the Paris police headquarters told Le Monde.<\/p>\n
The gallery said it would remain closed on Sunday due to \u201cexceptional reasons.\u201dIt comes just weeks after thieves stole several gold nuggets from Paris\u2019 Natural History Museum, worth around $700,000.<\/p>\n
Also in September, robbers raided a leading porcelain museum in Limoges, central France, causing damages estimated at more than $7 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrganized crime today is targeting art objects,\u201d Minister Dati said, adding that \u201cmuseums have become targets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lou-dunnit? Professional thieves broke into the Louvre Sunday morning \u2014 stealing priceless jewels that belonged to Emperor Napoleon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,594,451,3,593,130931,130932,452,453,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-236398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-paris","14":"tag-robberies","15":"tag-the-louvre","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topstories","18":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}