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.

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.

Authorities raced against the clock Tuesday as experts in art security told NBC News it could already be too late to recover the jewels.