The invaluable treasures from the Fund of the National History Museum in Bulgaria have been transported to Sofia International Airport early on Monday morning.

The artefacts will be flown to France's Louvre Museum via a specialized aircraft.

Loading of the 1,600 treasure items started at 4 am and then at 5:30 am armored trucks, accompanied by police officers headed to the airport, followed by reporters from the Bulgarian National Television.

The antique items have been carefully selected for the exhibition named The Epic of the Thracian Kings by four Bulgarian and French curators.

State guarantee on the items is said to be worth EUR 1 M, while the private insurance value announced is EUR 164 M, as stated by the National Museum's Director Bozhidar Dimitrov in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television.

The artefacts will be flown to Switzerland first - the only stop along the way, and are expected to arrive in Paris at 10:30 am.

The official opening of the exhibition is set for April 14 and will last for over three months. During that time, the exposition will possibly be observed by more than 4 million people.