Louvre reopens for first time after jewel heist

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The Louvre reopened its doors to visitors on Wednesday, three days after it had been shuttered over the theft of precious royal jewellery, an AFP journalist saw.

From 9:00 am (0700 GMT), the museum's usual opening time, the first visitors began entering the world-famous institution, though the museum said the Apollo Gallery, where Sunday's theft occurred, remains closed.

Scores of investigators are looking for Sunday's culprits, working on the theory that it was an organised crime group that clambered up a ladder on a truck to break into the museum, then dropped a diamond-studded crown as they fled.

They made off with eight priceless pieces, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his wife Empress Marie-Louise and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.

Disappointed tourists were turned away at the entrance of the Louvre in the heart of Paris the day after the theft, and it remained closed on Tuesday as per its regular schedule.

The world's most visited museum, last year it welcomed nine million people to its extensive hallways and galleries.

The theft reignited a row over the lack of security in French museums, after two other institutions were hit last month.