In the cover of night's darkness, in the borderland between Wednesday and Thursday, the robbers broke into the Adrien Dubouche national museum in Limoges in central France.
They smashed a window, which triggered an alarm. But despite the police being quickly on the scene of the crime, the thieves were already gone.
They apparently knew what they were going to take with them from the museum, which according to its website has around 18,000 objects on display.
Two "particularly important vases" of Chinese porcelain from the 1300s and 1400s, and a Chinese vase from the 1700s disappeared. All the objects are described as "national treasures", according to the museum.
An initial estimate suggests that the stolen goods are worth just over 100 million kronor.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into "gross theft of cultural objects".
The security system worked, but it may need to be reviewed, says the city's mayor Roger Lombertie.
He also gives a theory behind the coup.
It is likely that collectors give orders to steal these objects and turn to criminals of the higher school.
