Inside the Louvre museum heist that shocked the world

Holly Barker and her husband, Jake, were third in line at the Louvre the morning of October 19.

- CATHERINE PORTER

The couple from Indianapolis had a plan - head straight for the Mona Lisa, before the crowds, then shoot toward Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" and a famous painting of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David. Fourth stop was a place they had heard was a mini version of Versailles' Hall of Mirrors: the Apollo Gallery, with its collection of royal jewels.

It was 9.32 am when Holly stepped inside the gilded hall and took a photo.

As she stopped to admire a wedding gift that Napoleon had given his second wife, she heard the first of three loud bangs. The room froze, suspended for a moment of confusion.

The thieves were firing up a disc grinder that could cut through reinforced glass.

She and her husband clasped hands and rushed from the gallery with the 20 or so other visitors. They turned back only once, as the same attendant pulled the doors closed and shouted "Run!" More than a week after the burglary, in which thieves made off with more than $100 million worth of jewels in broad daylight, the country is still reeling, stunned by its brazenness, shocked by the clear security failures, and less and less hopeful the jewellery will be recovered intact.

Much is still unknown by the public, including whether the thieves scouted the location as experts say museum robbers do, and whether they had any help from an accomplice within the museum.