They included a diamond and emerald necklace and emerald earrings once worn by Empress Marie Louise, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as a brooch that had belonged to the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.
A damaged Eugenie crown was found dropped nearby.
The arrests at the weekend marked a major breakthrough for French investigators, who are racing to locate the stolen jewellery before it is taken apart or melted down. But experts believe the pieces were most likely dismantled soon after the high-profile robbery to avoid detection.
As the probe continues, the precise spot where the daylight robbery took place has become a source of much interest among tourists and locals.
Each day, passersby stop to take selfies of the window that was forced open, while others are even trying to find diamond fragments, Le Parisien reported.
The heist prompted the Louvre to close for three days. French President Emmanuel Macron called for stronger security measures to be introduced rapidly.
A woman takes a selfie in front of the facade and the window where thieves staged a spectacular daylight heist.Credit: AP
Louvre director Laurence des Cars, who was personally appointed by Macron, offered her resignation this week but was refused. On Wednesday, des Cars told a senate hearing that the museum had been “defeated”.
“There is a weakness at the Louvre and I acknowledge it completely,” she said, comparing the Louvre unfavourably with the Musée d’Orsay, her previous appointment.
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The director has called for a doubling of the number of security cameras, describing long-term problems with the existing coverage.
On the Apollo Gallery side of the museum, the sole CCTV camera faces west and did not capture the thieves’ entry.
More than 100 detectives are involved in the investigation and the prosecution office said DNA samples had been found on gloves, angle grinders and a vest left behind by the robbers.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin last week described the robbery as a failure, acknowledging that the heist gives “a deplorable image of France”.
Police officers examine a basket crane used by thieves.Credit: AP
In a post on X on Sunday, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez sent his “warmest congratulations” to the investigators who “worked tirelessly as I asked them to and who always had my full confidence”.
The London Telegraph reported on Saturday that sources close to the investigation believed the looters had received “sensitive internal information about the museum’s security system” ahead of the crime.
Members of the Paris Holmes Society, one dressed as Sherlock Holmes, play act a theft by the facade and the window where the real robber entered the Louvre.Credit: AP
A source said: “There is digital forensic evidence that shows there was co-operation with one of the museum’s security guards and the thieves.
“Sensitive information was passed on about the museum’s security, which is how they were aware of the breach.”
With AP, Reuters
