The police in France were racing against time as they searched on Monday for four thieves who carried out a daring heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, aware that the chances of recovering the stolen jewels risked diminishing with every hour.
The robbery on Sunday stunned France and has raised uncomfortable questions about security at one of the world’s most famous cultural institutions, which remained closed on Monday.
Much about the heist remained unclear. But the authorities said that organized crime was most likely involved and that investigators were looking into how the museum’s alarm systems functioned.
Many are now worried that the thieves, ignoring the jewelry’s historical value, might break the pieces apart to sell the stones on the black market and melt down their precious metals for sale.
“This morning, the French people, for the most part, feel as though they have been robbed,” Gérald Darmanin, the country’s justice minister, told France Inter radio on Monday. “In the same way that when Notre-Dame burned, it was our church that was burning — even if you weren’t Catholic — such an incredible jewelry robbery at the Louvre looks bad.”
“We cannot completely secure all locations,” Mr. Darmanin added. “But what is certain is that we have failed.”
