Masked thieves wearing balaclavas broke into the Louvre museum in Paris on Sunday, using a crane to shatter an upstairs window before seizing priceless artifacts from the section displaying the French crown jewels. They fled the scene on motorbikes, officials said.

The robbery raises awkward questions about security at the museum, where officials had already sounded the alarm about lack of investment at a world-famous site, home to artworks such as the Mona Lisa, that welcomed 8.7 million visitors in 2024.

“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our History,” President Emmanuel Macron said on X. “We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.”

The thieves struck at about 9.30 a.m. (0730 GMT) when the mu

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