PARIS — The Louvre said on Monday it would remain closed a day after historic jewels were stolen from the world’s most-visited museum in a daring daylight heist.
The museum’s staff asked dozens of visitors who were queuing in front of the glass pyramid entrance to leave the site. In a message posted on the social media, the Louvre said visitors who have booked tickets will be refunded. It did not provide additional details.
On Sunday, thieves rode a basket lift up the Louvre’s facade, forced a window, smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.
The theft about 30 minutes after the museum opened, with visitors already inside, was among the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory.
It unfolded just 250 meters (270 yards) from the Mona Lisa, in what Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as a professional, four-minute-long operation.
French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin acknowledged security failures on Monday.
“One can wonder about the fact that, for example, the windows hadn’t been secured, about the fact that a basket lift was on a public road,” he said on France Inter radio. “Having (previously) been interior minister, I know that we cannot completely secure all places, but what is certain is that we have failed.”
Culture Minister Rachida Dati said investigators are working on evidence found at the scene.
“We did find 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 allowed us to recover evidence at the scene.”
Dati stressed that a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan that was launched earlier this year includes security improvements.
“When the Louvre Museum was designed, it was not meant to accommodate 10 million visitors,” she said.
The plan calls for (euro)700 million ($760 million), also intended to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, several intruders forced a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the glass display cases, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the crew entered from outside using a basket lift via the riverfront facade to reach the hall with the 23-item royal collection.
Their target was the gilded Apollon Gallery, where the Crown Diamonds are displayed. The thieves smashed two display cases and fled on motorbikes, Nunez said. No one was hurt. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, but the theft was already done.
Eight objects were taken, according to officials: a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a reliquary brooch; and Empress Eugenie’s diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch, a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble.
One object, the emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum, French authorities said.
