Police were still searching for the thieves who robbed the Louvre Museum in broad daylight.

It took four thieves just seven minutes to break into the famed Louvre Museum in Paris and steal eight pieces of jewelry worth millions in broad daylight at 9:30 a.m. Sunday. It’s one of the most shocking museum thefts in history.

French authorities are still searching for the robbers and the missing items. Officials have acknowledged that lapses in security helped enable the daring theft, which took place with visitors inside 30 minutes after the museum opened.

"These days a Cartier store is better protected" than the Louvre, according to a jewelry expert quoted by the Guardian.

The robbers used simple cutting tools and a truck-mounted powered ladder to gain access to a second-floor window of the Louvre. They were inside the museum for less than four minutes, officials said.

How did thieves break into the Louvre?

Four men drove a truck with a powered extendable ladder and stopped on a road near the Seine River on the Louvre’s south side. They extended the ladder to a second-floor balcony of the museum.

Two men climbed the ladder to the balcony and used angle grinders and other power tools to break through and enter a window leading to the Gallery of Apollo. The other two men remained with the ladder truck.

Once inside, the men smashed glass display cases and took the jewelry. Museum alarms went off, and visitors were evacuated.

The thieves descended the ladder. One man tried to set fire to the ladder truck but was stopped by museum staff. All four thieves escaped on two motorbikes.

What items were stolen from the Louvre?

Eight objects were taken, some from matching sets, museum officials said:

  • A sapphire tiara: Once owned by 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
  • A sapphire necklace: From the Marie-Amélie and Hortense collection.
  • A single sapphire earring: One of a pair from the Marie-Amélie and Hortense collection.
  • An emerald necklace: Worn by Empress Marie-Louise, the second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.
  • A pair of emerald earrings: Matching the necklace from Marie-Louise’s collection.
  • A tiara: Worn by Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III.
  • A large bodice-knot brooch: Also known as the Corsage Bow Brooch, from Empress Eugénie’s collection.
  • A reliquary brooch: A brooch designed to display a historic relic.

What did the Louvre thieves leave behind?

The thieves dropped one item as they escaped: a crown with 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds that belonged to the Empress Marie-Louise. It was damaged but recovered.

The thieves did not take the 140.64 carat Regent diamond, valued at more than $60 million, according to the Guardian.

The robbery took place about 270 yards from the painting of the Mona Lisa.

The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum, said on its website that it would close its doors for the rest of the day for "exceptional reasons."

CONTRIBUTING Karissa Waddick, Melina Khan

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How thieves stole treasures worth millions from the Louvre Museum in just seven minutes

Reporting by Janet Loehrke and George Petras, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect