A crown made of gold, diamonds and emeralds that once belonged to Empress Eugenie of France was damaged by thieves during Sunday's heist at the world-famous Louvre Museum in Paris, according to the French Culture Minister.

Louvre museum director Laurence des Cars confirmed on Wednesday that she offered her resignation following the spectacular theft of jewellery from the museum in the heart of Paris. French Culture Minister Rachida Dati refused the resignation,

Museums are notoriously hard to protect. The Paris heist may have more in common with a "smash and grab" than a glamorous movie plot.

A new video has emerged showing what could be the Louvre thieves in action as they carried out Sunday’s daylight robbery at Paris’s world-famous museum. The footage, obtained by French broadcaster BFMTV, purportedly shows what has been called one of the most brazen art thefts in recent memory.

Investigators were looking into the alarm systems at an institution that one expert said “wasn’t built with an obsession over security.”