French authorities have detained two of the suspected robbers believed to have stolen precious crown jewels from the Louvre in a museum heist that stunned the world.

In the October 19 daylight heist the robbers went up an extendable ladder of a stolen movers' truck and, using cutting equipment, broke into a gallery that houses royal gems, then escaped on motorcycles.

They dropped a diamond and emerald-studded crown as they fled down the ladder, but managed to steal eight other pieces including an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon Bonaparte gave his wife, the Empress Marie-Louise.

In all, they made off with jewellery worth an estimated 88 million euros ($156.6 million) in just a few minutes.

So what happens next? And what does the brazen theft mean?

What is known about the

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