In a matter of minutes, thieves climbed a ladder and smashed display cases before fleeing the scene with eight valuable artifacts. The jewels had been housed just 270 yards from the "Mona Lisa"

The Louvre reopened earlier in the day to long lines beneath its landmark Paris glass pyramid for the first time since one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with its audacity and scale.

PARIS (AP) — The glittering sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds that once adorned France’s royals could well be gone forever, experts said Tuesday after a brazen, four-minute heist in broad daylight left the nation stunned and the government struggling to explain a new debacle at the Louvre.

The Louvre has transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France, according to French radio RTL, after an audacious daylight heist last week exposed the famed museum's security vulnerability.

A man who stepped into a photo taken outside the Louvre in Paris amid the investigation into the recent brazen crown jewels heist at the famous museum has gone viral.

In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum, thieves smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.