Two men have been arrested over a brazen daylight heist which saw thieves make off French crown jewels worth $157 million.

The iconic Louvre museum was forced to close last week after a gang of power tool wielding thieves pulled off the audacious robbery.

According to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, three or four thieves used a furniture hoist to scale the building and make off with "priceless" items from the Gallerie d’Apollon - Apollo's Gallery.

The gang stole items including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense.

Thieves also stole an emerald necklace and earrings which belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, and a reliquary brooch.

A massive investigation and manh

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