It took seven minutes for thieves to execute a brazen daylight heist at the famed Louvre museum. Here's how they did it

P ARIS and LONDON -- Several people disguised as construction workers broke into the world-famous Louvre museum in Paris on Sunday, cracking open display cases and stealing jewelry that once belonged to the Emperor Napoleon and his wife, officials said.

Three masked thieves carried out the robbery in the Apollon Gallery on the museum's second floor, which overlooks the River Seine and is currently under construction.

The Louvre in Paris was robbed of priceless jewels in a flawless heist. The theft joins a historic list of museum robberies around the world.

One of the most famous art heists in history was the 1911 theft of the "Mona Lisa." The 16th-century Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece was stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant who'd worked at the Louvre as a handyman and who smuggled the painting out of the building after hours by removing it from its frame and hiding it beneath his work coat.

With tourists already inside, police say thieves entered a museum window, smashed display cases, and fled with nine pieces from Napoleon’s jewel collection, all in seven minutes.

Thieves broke into the Louvre Museum in Paris, stealing jewels from Napoleon’s collection in a daring early-morning robbery.

Paris's Louvre Museum shut after 3 chainsaw-wielding thieves stole nine priceless Napoleon-era jewels from the Apollo Gallery. The seven-minute heist shocked France, with police investigating how the robbers escaped using motorbikes along the Seine.

Louvre museum theft details emerge, revealing robbers on scooters with chainsaws stole nine priceless jewels from the Napoleon and Empress Josephine collection