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louvre The world’s most visited museum will remain closed a day after historic jewelery was stolen in a daring daylight robbery, it said on Monday.
Museum staff asked dozens of visitors lining up in front of the entrance to the glass pyramid to leave the site. In a message posted on social media, the Louvre said visitors who had booked tickets would be refunded. It did not provide additional details.
On Sunday, thieves in a basket carried up the Louvre’s facade, broke a window, broke through display cases and made off with priceless Napoleonic jewels, authorities said.
The theft occurred about 30 minutes after the museum opened, when visitors were already inside, and was one of the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory.
It opened to a distance of only 250 meters (270 yards). mona lisaWhich Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as a professional, four-minute long operation.
French Minister of Justice Gerald Darmanin Admitted security failures on Monday.
,One There may be surprises about the fact that, for example, the windows were not secured, about the fact that a basket lift was on a public street,” he said on France Inter radio. “Being (the first) interior minister, I know that we cannot completely secure all places, but it is certain that we have failed.”
Culture Minister Rachida Dati said investigators were working on evidence found at the scene.
“We found a motorcycle and it has a license plate,” Dati said on news broadcaster CNews. “I also want to pay tribute to the security officers who prevented the basket lift from being set on fire. One of the criminals tried to set it on fire, but they forced him to flee. This helped us recover evidence at the scene.”
Dati stressed that security improvements are included in the decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan launched earlier this year.
“When the Louvre Museum was designed, it was not intended to accommodate 10 million visitors,” he said.
The plan calls for €700 million ($760 million), which also aims to modernize infrastructure, reduce overcrowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031.
Around 9:30 a.m. Sunday, several intruders broke a window, cut the glass with a disc cutter and drove straight into a glass display case, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the entourage entered from the outside using a basket lift from the river front walkway to reach the hall with the 23-object royal collection.
Their target was the gilded Apollon Gallery, where the Crown Diamonds are on display. The thieves broke two display cases and fled on a motorcycle, Nunez said. no one was hurt. The alarm brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to lock it out, but the theft had already taken place.
According to authorities, eight items were taken: a sapphire tiara, necklace and single earring from a set matching those of 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from a matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a relic brooch; and Queen Eugenie’s tiara and her large corsage-bow brooch, a prized 19th-century piece of royal clothing.
French officials said one item, the emerald-studded royal tiara of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum.