It took just eight minutes. Thieves broke into the Louvre in broad daylight on Sunday and made off with jewelry said to be of “incalculable” worth, all while visitors and staff members were going about their business in one of the world’s most famous museums.

A Maine State Music Theatre group that visited the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday recounted what they witnessed during a theft of crown jewels.

In a brazen daylight robbery, thieves stole priceless jewelry from the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in Paris, escaping on motorcycles after a seven-minute raid that stunned visitors.

Paris' iconic Louvre Museum was forced to shut down on Sunday, October 19, after a group of chainsaw-wielding robbers made off with millions of dollars of priceless jewelry. A group of four suspects were reportedly wearing masks and hoods when they entered the most-visited museum in the world on

Visitors were asked to leave Paris Louvre after reports of a robbery at the museum. Video Credit: Monica Louvre Museum Guided Tour/ @LouvreGuide via X

Footage filmed by tour guide Claudine Hemingway (@ClaudineBleuBlondeRouge) shows the stolen items on display, before the brazen theft, in the museum's Gallery of Apollo.

The Louvre Museum in Paris was closed for a second day on Monday as police continued their hunt for the gang who stole priceless pieces of royal jewellery in a daring raid. France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he would tighten security outside cultural institutions as a result.

One of the most infamous heists in the cultural institution’s history was the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa—when Pablo Picasso numbered among the suspects.

Several paintings have been stolen from the celebrated Parisian museum, including the Mona Lisa. Over the course of its history, it has steadily improved its security.

Masked thieves stole priceless jewels from the Louvre on Sunday morning. The Paris museum has suffered a string of successful art heists, dating back to the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911.