Louvre tours featuring French crown jewels now in doubt

PARIS – Ms Anya Firestone’s visit to the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre Museum on Oct 18 was no different from the dozens of times she had been there before. A day later, Ms Firestone, a private tour guide in Paris who caters to a rarefied clientele, learnt her itineraries might never be the same after

thieves had stolen some of the gallery’s French crown jewels

on the morning of Oct 19.

The stolen pieces have featured prominently in Ms Firestone’s tours. She has used them as a way to explain France’s evolution from monarchy to empire to republic, she said.