Museum heists, particularly ones involving historic and valuable items, have shocked the world and inspired mystery and suspicion for more than a century.

The Louvre museum was hit by a brazen daytime jewel heist, forcing the Paris institution to close its doors for a second day in a row.

LONDON -- As the alarms sounded at the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning, four suspects took off on two motorbikes, winding their way through central Paris, allegedly carrying with them a haul of "priceless" jewelry once worn by queens and made of sapphires, diamonds and emeralds.

L ONDON -- As the alarms sounded at the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning, four suspects took off on two motorbikes, winding their way through central Paris, allegedly carrying with them a haul of "priceless" jewelry once worn by queens and made of sapphire, diamonds and emeralds.

Authorities were racing Monday to reassure the public about security at key cultural sites — and find the jewels stolen from the museum before they can be broken up and melted down.

Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau says thieves who stole priceless jewelry from the Louvre Museum in a seven-minute heist may have been hired by a collector.

French Justice Minister Gerard Darmanin said on Monday the jewelry heist at the Louvre museum on Sunday gave a very negative image of France as it implied a failure of security services.

In a brazen seven-minute robbery, thieves disguised as construction workers looted eight priceless royal jewels from Paris’s Louvre Museum in broad daylight, exposing major lapses in museum security.