Thieves in balaclavas broke into Paris's Louvre museum on Sunday, using a crane to smash an upstairs window, then stealing priceless objects from an area that houses the French crown jewels before escaping on motorbikes, officials said.

The robbery is likely to raise awkward questions about security at the museum, where officials had already sounded the alarm about a lack of investment at the world-famous site, home to such artworks as the . The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors in 2024.

"The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our History," President Emmanuel Macron said on social media platform X. "We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice."

The thieves struck at about 9:30 a.m. local time, when the

See Full Page