Thieves used a stolen truck-mounted moving lift to scale the Louvre and steal royal jewels worth over $100 million in a lightning-fast Paris heist.

The French crown jewels robbed from the Louvre museum in Paris are likely lost forever, an art crime expert tells CBS News, even if the thieves are caught.

PARIS (Reuters) -A jewellery heist at Paris' Louvre museum has cast France in a "deplorable" light, Justice Minister Gerard Darmanin said on Monday as opposition politicians criticised the government for what they branded a national humiliation.

Authorities were racing Monday to reassure the public about security at key cultural sites — and find the jewels stolen from the museum before they can be broken up and melted down.

The precious artifacts snatched from Paris’s Louvre Museum on Sunday include an emerald necklace gifted by Napoleon to his second wife and other priceless crown jewels.

A specialized police unit is investigating a brazen daytime heist of eight pieces of jewelry worth about $102 million from Paris' Louvre Museum.

Yesterday morning, France’s Minister of Culture Rachida Dati posted an announcement on social media that could have been straight out of a heist movie—“A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum.