Photo: VCG

French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X on Monday that "The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is part of our history," following a robbery in which items of great historical value were stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris.

"We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of the Paris prosecutor's office," Macron said.

Paris' landmark Louvre Museum remained closed on Monday as French police continued its manhunt for the robbers who stole eight "priceless" pieces of royal jewelry from the museum on Sunday, France 24 reported.

The report said that some 60 investigators are currently investigating the crime, which is thought to have been orchestrated by a team of experienced, possibly "foreign" thieves.

The heist took place in a gallery just a short walk from some of the world's most famous paintings - such as the Mona Lisa, BBC News reported. It took between six to seven minutes and was carried out by four people who were unarmed, but who threatened the guards with angle grinders, said Reuters, citing Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau. 

A total of nine objects including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie Louise were targeted by the criminals, and eight were actually stolen. The thieves lost the ninth one, the crown of Napoleon III's wife, Empress Eugenie, during their escape, Beccuau said.

The heist was the first theft from the Louvre since 1998, when a painting by Corot was stolen and never seen again, France 24 reported.

Chinese tourist Shu Yi witnessed the theft on site. She told the Global Times on Monday that when she arrived to queue at 8:30 am, everything was proceeding normally. However, when she entered the Museum and began enjoying the artworks, "there was something amiss."

"At that time, some staff dressed in black were walking back and forth, but we were not informed about what was happening," Shu said.

She recalled that later visitors were asked to gather in the first-floor hall with all pavilions closed, and the staff urged them to leave the museum promptly. 

"From the beginning to the end, all the tourists were in a state of panic, and the scene was in chaos, as no one had any idea what had happened."

French Justice Minister Gerard Darmanin said on Monday the jewelry heist gave a very negative image of France as it implied a failure of security services, Reuters reported. 

France 24 said that Sunday's raid relaunched a debate over what critics said is poor security at the nation's museums, far less secure than banks and increasingly targeted by thieves.

The occurrence of theft cases in top-tier Western national museums like the Louvre indicates that they have shortcomings in their security equipment, capabilities, and awareness, Huo Zhengxin, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Monday.

The entire criminal process was not detected and prevented in a timely manner, which also exposes systemic vulnerabilities, Huo added.

A French netizen with the username nsampieru said on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu that he found it utterly absurd that "the world's most precious and renowned museum could be robbed so easily," adding that he could not understand how France could allow such a thing to occur.