The Louvre reopened three days after the French crown jewels were stolen

The Louvre museum in Paris has reopened three days after 88 million euros (£76m; $102m) worth of jewels were looted in a brazen daylight robbery.

Visitors were welcomed back to the Louvre at 09:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Wednesday, but the museum said its Apollo Gallery – where the theft took place – remained closed.

Thieves wielding power tools took less than eight minutes to loot the world’s most visited museum on a scooter on Sunday morning. They haven’t been caught yet.

President Emmanuel Macron urged ministers to step up the introduction of security measures at the Louvre as it reopens, a government spokesman said.

The director of the museum, Laurence des Cars, will appear before the French Senate’s culture committee on Wednesday afternoon.

She has yet to speak publicly about the robbery by Macron It was described as an attack on the country’s heritage.

Preliminary reports found that one in three rooms in the Louvre lacked CCTV and its elaborate alarm system did not go off. As a result, security measures have been tightened at cultural institutions in France.

Senator Nathalie Goulet previously told the BBC that the gallery’s alarm had recently been broken and a police investigation could reveal whether it had been deactivated.

The culture ministry said the museum’s elaborate alarms went off and staff followed protocol by contacting security forces and protecting visitors.

The museum closed its doors after the daring heist, saying visitors who had booked ahead of time would be refunded.

Meanwhile, ten investigation agencies are working to nab the criminals.

Four masked thieves used a truck with a mechanical ladder mounted on it to gain access to the gallery of the Apollo from a balcony near the river Seine at 09:30 on Sunday morning.

Two of them entered the museum using a battery-operated disc cutter through a glass window on the first floor.

They then threatened the guards inside, who evacuated the building and smashed the glass of two display cases containing jewellery.

The thieves tried to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of museum staff. He was seen leaving on a scooter at 09:38.

The loot included a diamond and emerald necklace given by Emperor Napoleon to his wife, a tiara worn by Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, and several pieces formerly owned by Queen Marie-Amelie.

Along the thieves’ escape route investigators also found a damaged tiara that belonged to Empress Eugenie – thought to have been dropped when they fled.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France’s Europe 1 on Wednesday that he had “every confidence” that the thieves would be caught.

Prosecutors said their theory is that the robbers were under the orders of a criminal organization.