The Louvre has reopened, three days after “priceless” pieces from the French crown jewels were stolen by thieves in an audacious daytime raid.
Crowds – hundreds deep – waited outside the Paris museum’s famous glass pyramid entrance and bunched at the barriers as they were being removed on Wednesday morning.
The Apollo Room, the scene of Sunday’s robbery, was still closed to visitors, with a folding screen closing off the doorway at the gallery’s entrance.
The Paris landmark, the world’s most-visited museum, is normally closed on Tuesdays and has been shut since the heist for investigation.
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No arrests have been announced, and the stolen jewels remain missing.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Tuesday that the stolen items were worth an estimated €88m (£76 million), not including their historical value to France.
But, reacting to the theft, interior minister Laurent Nunez said the jewels “have genuine heritage value and are, in fact, priceless”.
The French culture ministry said the items stolen were:
• Tiara from the set of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
• Necklace from the sapphire set of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
• Earring, from the pair belonging to the sapphire set of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
• Emerald necklace from the Empress Marie Louise set
• Pair of emerald earrings from the Empress Marie Louise set
• Brooch known as the “reliquary brooch”
• Tiara of Empress Eugenie
• Large corsage bow brooch of Empress Eugenie
How did the heist unfold?
The smash-and-grab that unfolded just 250m (270 yards) from the Mona Lisa has prompted a national reckoning, with some officials comparing the shock to the 2019 Notre-Dame Cathedral fire.
Culture minister Rachida Dati insisted the museum’s security systems worked, despite speculation to the contrary.
Alarms were triggered when the thieves forced the gallery’s window, Mr Nunez, said on Monday, and police were on the scene within two or three minutes after receiving a call from a witness.
But by the time staff, alerted by the alarms, rushed to the room, the thieves had left.
About 100 investigators are involved in searching for the stolen items and thieves, who used a basket lift mounted on a lorry, wheeled to the Seine-facing side of the building, to gain access.
Ms Beccuau said four people have been identified as being at the scene of the heist.
In a raid that authorities said lasted around four minutes, they forced a window open, smashed two display cases, before fleeing on motorbikes with a number of Napoleonic-era jewels.
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Read more on Sky News:
What we know so far about the heist
How the investigation is going
What are the stolen jewels worth?
Ms Dati said footage of the operation showed the thieves “don’t target people, they enter calmly in four minutes, smash display cases, take their loot, and leave”.
“No violence, very professional,” she told TF1.
The heist has sharpened scrutiny of the Louvre’s surveillance and president-director, Laurence des Cars, appears before the culture committee of the French Senate on Wednesday.
