Thieves rob Napoleon on the no

INTERNATIONAL

Thieves rob Napoleon on the nose of smiling Mona Lisa

As Mona Lisa still kept hanging her mystic smile, nine valuable historic jewelries including some once possessed by Napoleon Bonaparte and his queen, were stolen in a heist at the Louvre Museum here that rocked the European Union and transmitted a non-perishable shockwave across the globe.

A manhunt though was under way after thieves broke into the Louvre and stole the 'priceless' jewelry. The cops in Paris, however, were yet to get any breakthrough of the heist. The burglars, after committing the crime, fled the scene in scooters, inviting a combined combing search across the country at length.

French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, has taken the issue to the social networks and denounced to term the 'massacre' as an 'attack on a heritage that we cherish.' He stated: "The perpetrators will be brought to justice."

"Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of Paris Prosecutor's office." The Louvre evacuated the entire visitors and placed a notice online that the museum will remain closed throughout the day under 'exceptional' circumstances.

The culture ministry of France's statement meanwhile claimed that eight items of jewelry had been stolen from the Apollo Gallery that houses the French crown jewels.

"Two high-security display cases were targeted, and eight objects of priceless cultural heritage were stolen," it stated.

They included the emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie Louise and the 19th-century crown of Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.

At around 9:30 am (local time) on Sunday, as the tourists already had started roaming in the halls of the Louvre, the miscreants by the time had zeroed in on the Appolo's Gallery- a golden-gilded, lavishly painted hall commissioned by King Louis XIV that houses the French Crown jewels. Country's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said: "The thieves used a basket lift to help reaching out to the museum's windows, entered the Gallery and escaped via motorbike with 'jewels of inestimable value' in minutes."

Napoleon Bonaparte ruled France in two main historic periods: from 1799 to 1814 as First Consul of the French Republic and then as Emperor and then again for a brief return in 1815.

Established 232 years ago on 10 August 1793, world famous The Louvre Museum is a national art museum in Paris and is located on the Right Bank of the river Seine. The Louvre reserves a collection of 615,797 artifacts, paintings, canonical works of Western art including the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged Victoria, besides precious historic jewelries of the royal family, attracts more than 8 million visitors annually.