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  • Louvre Closed After Daylight Jewel Heist in Paris

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    Police in Paris are hunting masked thieves who managed to make off with jewelry French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez says the are of ‘incalculable’ value Sunday

    Visitors to he world’s most visited museum – the Louvre in Paris, France – were evacuated from the attraction Sunday morning after masked thieves armed with small chainsaws stole ancient artifacts from the Apollo Gallery that French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez says have an ‘incalculable’ value, once belonging to Napoleon and his wife.

    The gallery pays homage to King Louis XIV, who famously identified with the Sun God, and the “Galerie d’Apollon,” the museum says, “is home to the royal collection of hardstone vessels and the French Crown Jewels.” Within hours after the museum opened its doors to the hordes Sunday morning, thieves made a quick and daring heist, smashing through open two display cases before fleeing the scene on motorcycles around 9:30 a.m. Parisian time, officials told reporters. The brazen daylight robbery took roughly seven minutes, authorities say.

    The suspects scurried up a ladder raised from a utility truck, broke a window to gain access to the jewels, the museum, which is home to the Mona Lisa, said in a statement. The robbery led to the evacuation and closing of the tourist hotspot.

    A notification posted on the museum’s website shortly afterward said, “The Louvre Museum will remain closed today for exceptional reasons. We thank you for your understanding.” French politicians took to social media with the news.

    The decision to close the museum was made jointly by its management, the police and the Ministry of the Interior, museum officials said in a statement. The doors were closed as “a security measure and to preserve traces and evidence for the investigation,” the statement said.

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    Michele McPhee

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