In a brazen daylight robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris, thieves made off with eight priceless crown jewels, including treasures once belonging to Empress Marie-Louise and Empress Eugenie, with an estimated total value of €88 million. The heist unfolded on Sunday morning as visitors began to arrive, leaving staff and tourists in shock. An unnamed gallery attendant recounted the moment the thieves used an angle grinder to break through a reinforced window into the Gallery of Apollo, where the historic jewelry is housed. ‘No-one could have been prepared for this,’ she said, describing the chaos that ensued. The gang, equipped with a mechanical ladder mounted on a lorry, accessed the first-floor balcony and swiftly seized the treasures within eight minutes. Two tourists reportedly fled in panic as one of the criminals brandished what appeared to be a chainsaw. The attendant and her colleagues evacuated visitors and secured neighboring galleries, but the thieves escaped on scooters, leaving behind a trail of evidence, including a damaged crown. The museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, revealed that years of underfunding and inadequate security measures, such as a single misaligned external camera, contributed to the breach. While French ministers defended the museum’s security protocols, staff expressed concerns about a declining ‘culture of security’ at the iconic institution.