Paris has launched a huge manhunt after audacious thieves carried out a jaw-dropping daylight heist on the Louvre, swiping nine of the museum's most priceless treasures including a £100million crown, in just seven minutes.

The gang of several 'highly organised criminals' arrived outside the world's most visited museum at around 9.30am local time on Sunday while thousands of tourists enjoyed a day out at the attraction.

Masked and wielding angle grinders, the gang parked up their scooters outside the Apollo Gallery (Galerie d'Apollon), home to jewels belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte, his wife Josephine and a string of subsequent Emperors and Empresses.

They then extended a freight elevator, resembling a giant ladder, from the back of a flat-bed truck and propped it up against the wall of the gallery, which was opened by King Louis XIV in the 17th Century.

The targeted wing of the Louvre, on the River Seine side of the museum, was undergoing construction work when the gang struck.

After scurrying to the top of the ladder, they used an angle grinder to pierce through the museum's external window, before climbing into the Salle 705 exhibition room.

In a whirlwind seven-minute heist, they prised open two display cases and crammed away nine pieces of the 23-item Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte collection, Le Parisien reports.

The treasures included the Eugénie Crown, adorned with thousands of diamonds and emeralds and worn by Napoleon III's empress consort Eugénie, which was later found tossed below a window of the Louvre and broken into pieces.

Paris has launched a manhunt after thieves carried out a jaw-dropping daylight heist on the Louvre, swiping nine of the museum's priceless treasures including a £100million crown

Several 'highly organised criminals' arrived outside the Louvre at around 9.30am local time on Sunday and propped a freight elevator against its walls before completing a seven-minute raid

Officers rushed to the scene and were pictured inspecting the empty site after a mass evacuation

The gang is also believed to have swiped a priceless necklace and brooch from Salle 705.

By 9.40am they were out of the Louvre, disappearing into the Paris morning on their scooters just as police started to arrive.

BREAKING NEWS

Brazen thieves drop priceless Eugénie crown outside the Louvre in Paris during daylight heist

When they got there, officers found the huge elevator left up against the museum's historic stone walls.

Further photos showed what appeared to be an angle grinder on the front seat of a truck, parked outside the Louvre and surrounded by police tape.

Meanwhile, thousands of panicking tourists were trapped inside the iconic building while a hurried evacuation took place, before being escorted towards the city's streets on a busy day in the French capital.

Forensics teams were later spotted outside the Louvre, inspecting the elevator and the truck on which it stood.

The historic Eugénie Crown, presented to the empress consort in 1855, was sold at auction in 1988 for $13.5m (£10m) before being donated to the Louvre four years later. It is now worth tens of millions of dollars, expert Josie Goodbody told the Daily Mail.

Salle 705 also boasts Eugenie's diamond bodice bow, although it is not yet known if this was taken.

Among the treasures was the Eugénie Crown, found tossed below a window of the Louvre and broken into pieces (Stock Photo)

Images appear to show a disc-cutter in a lorry at the site of the robbery, believed to have been used to cut through the musuem's external window

It is home to the Regent diamond, viewed by many as the most beautiful in the world, which was strangely not stolen, according to Le Parisien.

After being crowned Emperor and Empress of France in 1804, Napoleon and Josephine amassed one of the most impressive jewellery collections ever known.

Many of the pieces were stolen from royalty during the French Revolution, while others were taken from around the country's sweeping Empire, which expanded rapidly under the emperor's rule.

The Louvre, with its iconic pyramid entrance, also features Leonardo Da Vinci's 16th Century masterpiece Mona Lisa.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed an investigation had been launched into 'theft and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime' by an organised gang.

The Banditism Repression Brigade of the Judicial Police (BRB) is leading the enquiry, along with the Central Office for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property.

Mr Nuñez said: 'It was necessary to close the Louvre to visitors, primarily to preserve traces and clues so that investigators could work calmly. The evacuation of the public took place without incident.'

He added: 'We can't prevent everything. There is great vulnerability in French museums.

A window of the Louvre appears to be destroyed in photos taken following the theft

'Everything is being done to ensure we find the perpetrators as quickly as possible, and I'm hopeful.'

The busy Quai François-Mitterand, which stretches along the Louvre's buildings, was closed off to traffic until around 4pm on Sunday.

The Élysée Palace said that President Emmanuel Macron was being 'informed of the situation in real time'.

Those stealing historical art pieces or jewellery often work for dealers who will be unable to sell the priceless items on the black market.

Instead, the treasures will be kept hidden and enjoyed by the master criminal who commissioned the raid.

Rachida Dati, France's Culture Minister, said: 'I am on site alongside the museum staff and the police.'

She confirmed a criminal enquiry had been launched, and that detectives were liaising with museum staff.

According to Ms Dati, nobody was hurt during the raids, while a Louvre spokesman confirmed the museum was shut 'for exceptional reasons'.

Tourists pictured being escorted from the Louvre on Sunday after thieves arrived on scooters to swipe priceless historical items in an audacious heist

Panicked visitors attempt to make their way out of the iconic museum following the robbery

On June 16, staff at the Louvre staged a protest over the museum's lack of staff and overcrowding.

The demonstration delayed the opening of the tourist attraction into the afternoon, causing queues of thousands to develop outside the museum.

High-end art thefts are not unusual in Paris, including at the Louvre, which opened in 1793 after serving as a palace since the late 12th Century.

The most infamous came in 1911 when the Mona Lisa was taken, causing an international outcry.

Vincenzo Peruggia, an employee of the world's most popular art museum, hid in a cupboard overnight to take the painting.

It was recovered two years later when he tried to sell it to an antiques dealer in Florence, Italy.

Before Sunday's brazen heist, the last theft at the Louvre took place in 1998 when Le Chemin de Sevres (The Sevres Road), by 19th Century artist Camille Corot, was plucked off the wall without anyone noticing. It remains missing to this day.

The latest raid comes despite authorities regularly pledging to improve security at the numerous galleries across the city.

Forensics teams pictured outside the Louvre in the hours after the heist

Police surround the tourist attraction on Sunday after it was reported jewellery previously belonging to Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte was swiped from the museum

Axe-wielding thieves targeted an exhibition of miniature objects at the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris on November 20, 2024.

Among their haul were seven highly prized snuffboxes, including two loaned by the British Crown.

The daytime raid led to an insurance payout of more than £3 million to the Royal Collection Trust.

In 2017, three art thieves were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for stealing five masterpieces worth almost £100m from the Paris Museum of Modern Art.

A burglary in May 2010 saw works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse disappear from the same gallery.

Minute-by-minute, how the Louvre heist unfolded