(CNN) — Precious artifacts snatched from Paris’s Louvre Museum Sunday include an emerald necklace set among more than 1,000 diamonds gifted by Napoleon to his second wife and other treasures of “inestimable” value.

The thieves targeted the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery on the upper floor, which houses the French Crown Jewels. In the course of a brisk seven-minute heist, they broke into two high-security display cases and stole nine items, according to France’s culture ministry. The thieves left on motorcycles, police said.

One item, an ornate gold crown worn by Empress Eugénie, during her reign in the 1800s, was recovered near the scene, the ministry said.

Art recovery expert Arthur Brand said the thieves stole important pieces of history in what was a “national disaster” for France.

“Th

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