Portugal Colonial - Robbers steal French crown jewels from Louvre

Authorities recovered a 19th-century gem-encrusted crown -- damaged -- near the museum, but the culprits were still at large and the target of a manhunt.

The spectacular robbery, one of several to target French museums in recent months, forced the closure for the rest of the day of the Louvre, the world's most-visited museum and home to the Mona Lisa.

Armed soldiers patrolled around the famed glass pyramid entrance, while police teams were seen going inside. Evacuated visitors, tourists and passersby were kept at a distance behind police tape.

It was "like a Hollywood movie", one American tourist, Talia Ocampo, told AFP.

It was "crazy" and "something we won't forget -- we could not go to the Louvre because there was a robbery", she said.

The robbers used a powered, extendable ladder of the sort used to hoist furniture into buildings to get into the targeted gallery which houses the crown jewels, sources and officials said.

The crown of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, was found broken near the museum afterwards, a source following the robbery said, asking to remain anonymous because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The crown, featuring golden eagles, is covered in 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the museum's website.

- '30 seconds' -

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said three or four thieves had used the furniture hoist to steal "priceless" goods from two displays in the museum's "Gallerie d'Apollon" ("Apollo's Gallery").

It was not immediately clear what other items were taken.

Pieces usually on display there also include three historical diamonds -- the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia -- as well as an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie Louise, it said.

The thieves arrived between 9:30 and 9:40 am (0730 and 0740 GMT), the source following the case said. The museum opened to the public at 9 am.

A separate police source said the robbers had drawn up on a scooter armed with angle grinders and used the hoist to get inside the Louvre.

A witness named Samir, who was riding a bicycle nearby at the time, told the TF1 news outlet that he saw two men "get on the hoist, break the window and enter... it took 30 seconds".

He said he saw four of them subsequently leave, and he called the police.

The brazen robbery happened just 800 metres from Paris police headquarters.

The Paris prosecutor's office said it had opened an investigation and the value of the hoard was still being estimated.

The Louvre said on X it closed its doors for the day for "exceptional reasons". Management told AFP it wanted to "preserve traces and clues for the investigation".

- Series of heists -

The Louvre used to be the seat of French kings until Louis XIV abandoned it for Versailles in the late 1600s.

It is the world's most visited museum, last year welcoming nine million people to its extensive hallways and galleries.

Louis XIV commissioned the "Gallerie d'Apollon", which later served as a model for the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. It was recovered months later and today sits behind security glass.

Several French museums have recently been targeted by thieves.

Last month, criminals used an angle grinder to break into Paris's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples worth 600,000 euros ($700,000).

Thieves earlier in the month stole two dishes and a vase in Chinese porcelain classed as national treasures from a museum in the central city of Limoges, with the losses estimated at 6.5 million euros.

In November last year, four thieves stole snuffboxes and other precious artifacts from the Cognacq-Jay museum in Paris, breaking into a display case with axes and baseball bats.

He said at the time he hoped that the works could help increase the annual number of visitors to 12 million.

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M.Gameiro--PC