PARIS: Thieves wielding power tools robbed the Louvre museum in broad daylight Sunday, taking just seven minutes to grab some of France's priceless crown jewels, but dropping a gem-encrusted crown as they fled, officials and sources said.

Authorities recovered the 19th-century crown -- damaged -- near the museum, but the culprits were still at large and the target of a manhunt.

The spectacular robbery, one of several to target French museums in recent months, forced the closure for the rest of the day of the Louvre, the world's most-visited museum and home to the Mona Lisa.

Armed soldiers patrolled around the famed glass pyramid entrance, while evacuated visitors, tourists and passersby were kept at a distance behind police tape.

It was "like a Hollywood movie", one American touris

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