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PARIS, France--In a few minutes inside the world’s most-visited museum, thieves on Sunday rode a basket lift to the Louvre, forced a window into the Galerie d’Apollon and smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said, according to a report by the AP.

Around 9:30 a.m., just as the museum was opening, several intruders forced a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the vitrines, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the crew entered from outside using a basket lift, the AP reported.

It was among the highest-profile museum thefts in recent memory and comes as Louvre employees have complained of worker and security understaffing.

One object was later found outside the museum, according to Culture Minister Rachida Dati, according to the AP story. French daily Le Parisien reported it was the emerald-studded crown of Napoleon III’s wife Empress Eugénie—gold, diamonds and sculpted eagles—recovered just beyond the walls, broken.

The theft unfolded just 250 meters (270 yards) from the Mona Lisa, in what Dati described as “a four-minute operation.” No one was hurt.

The target was the vaulted Galerie d’Apollon in the Denon wing, capped by a ceiling painted for Louis XIV, displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels. The thieves are believed to have approached via the riverfront facade, where construction is underway, used a freight elevator to reach the hall, took nine pieces from a 23-item collection linked to Napoleon and the Empress, and made off on motorbikes, the AP report states, quoting Le Parisien.

Read more from reports in the AP and Le Parisien.