The Louvre Museum in the French capital has closed for “exceptional reasons” after a group of intruders successfully stole eight pieces of priceless jewellery in a quick-hit heist that has rocked the world’s most-visited museum.

A manhunt for the thieves was under way in Paris on Sunday as police cordoned off the museum – famously home to Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa – with tape and as armed soldiers patrolled its iconic glass pyramid entrance.

French government and museum officials said several intruders entered the Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo’s Gallery) through a window shortly after the museum opened, relying on a lift used to hoist furniture into buildings.

Within just four minutes, the thieves stole away on motorcycles laden with eight items dating back to the Napoleonic

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