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(NewsNation) — In conscionable minutes, a group of thieves entered the Louvre dressed arsenic operation workers, smashed show cases and made distant with Napoleon-era jewels, according to officials.
The heist happened 30 minutes aft the museum — which houses much than 350,000 objects successful Paris, France — opened connected Sunday.
The perpetrators rode a handbasket assistance up its Seine-facing façade, chopped windowpanes with a disc cutter, entered the Apollon Gallery and shattered 2 of the royal collection's show cases. They past fled connected motorbikes, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.
Photos: Which jewels were stolen from the Louvre?
The thieves took astatine slightest 8 pieces of France's crown jewels, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and azygous earring from a matching acceptable linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
Other stolen valuables were an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching acceptable of Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem and bow-breech belonging to Empress Eugénie.
Her crown was recovered, broken, extracurricular of the depository connected Sunday, officials told section reporters.
"An probe has begun, and a elaborate database of the stolen items is being compiled," a depository spokesperson told CBS News. "Beyond their marketplace value, these items person inestimable practice and humanities value."
This photograph shows "Collier et boucles d'oreilles de la parure d'émeraudes de l'impératrice Marie-Louise" (necklace and earrings of the acceptable of jewelry of Empress Marie-Louise) displayed astatine Apollon's Gallery connected January 14, 2020 astatine the Louvre depository successful Paris aft the reopening of the Gallery pursuing 10 months of renovations. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)
This photograph shows the crown of the Empress of the French Eugénie de Montijo displayed astatine Apollon's Gallery connected January 14, 2020 astatine the Louvre depository successful Paris aft the reopening of the Gallery pursuing 10 months of renovations. Robbers broke successful to the Louvre and fled with jewellery connected October 19, 2025 morning. France's Interior Minister said that jewellery stolen from the Louvre Museum was "priceless". Diamond and emerald crown of the Empress of the French Eugénie de Montijo was recovered breached adjacent Louvre aft robbery, a root adjacent to the lawsuit announced. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - APRIL 11: The Empress Eugenie Brooch, an antique diamond bow brooch, sits connected show during a media preview for the "Christie's Rare Jewels and Gemstones: The Eye of a Connoisseur" merchantability successful New York, U.S., connected Friday, April 11, 2008. The auction was aboriginal canceled owed to a ineligible conflict by jeweler Ralph O. Esmerian, who argued helium could get acold much for the jewels done backstage income -- and frankincense wage disconnected a $178 cardinal indebtedness owed to Merrill Lynch & Co. by selling less pieces. The brooch was aboriginal purchased by the Louvre Museum for $10.7 million. (Photo by Jb Reed/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE - APRIL 27: The Empress Eugénie's crown is exhibited astatine the Louvre Museum connected April 27, 2025 successful Paris, France. The world-renowned Louvre depository successful Paris was unopen connected October 19 aft respective pieces of invaluable jewelry were stolen successful a brazen robbery. (Photo by Zhang Weiguo/VCG via Getty Images)
This photograph shows the "parure de la reine Marie-Amelie et de la Reine Hortense" (set of jewelry of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense) displayed astatine Apollon's Gallery connected January 14, 2020 astatine the Louvre depository successful Paris aft the reopening of the Gallery pursuing 10 months of renovations. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)
Tobias Kormind, managing manager of 77 Diamonds, told the Associated Press it is "unlikely these jewels volition ever beryllium seen again."
“Professional crews often interruption down and re-cut large, recognizable stones to evade detection, efficaciously erasing their provenance," Kormind said.
The Apollon Gallery, deemed a "gallery acceptable for a Sun King" by the Louvre, besides contains Louis XIV's hardstone vas collection, array decorations and representation tapestries of 28 monarchs and artists.
