Moment crowds are evacuated from the Louvre Museum after daylight jewellery heist

A video shows crowds being evacuated from the Louvre Museum on Sunday October 19 following a daylight jewellery heist.

The incident reportedly took place around 30 minutes after the Louvre opened, with visitors already inside. The museum was subsequently shut for the day to allow investigations to be conducted.

According to officials, the items taken 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.

The emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, which contains more than 1,300 diamonds, was reportedly found broken outside the museum.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our History.

“We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of the Paris prosecutor's office.

“The Louvre New Renaissance project, which we launched in January, provides for strengthened security. It will be the guarantor of the preservation and protection of what constitutes our memory and our culture.”

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, who described the jewellery as “priceless” to France Inter Radio, said: “This morning, I went, along with the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, to the Louvre Museum just after a theft had been committed.

“Attacking the Louvre is attacking our history and our heritage.

“Everything is being done to apprehend the perpetrators of this unacceptable act as quickly as possible. The mobilization of investigators will be total, under the authority of the Paris Prosecutor's Office.

“All my support to the museum staff and to our police officers who are on the job.”