Rabat – The director of the Louvre Museum, Laurence des Cars, has described last weekend’s audacious jewel theft as a “terrible failure” of security, acknowledging shortcomings that allowed thieves to escape with treasures worth an estimated €88 million ($102 million).
Speaking before the French Senate on Wednesday, des Cars said museum staff “did not detect the arrival of the thieves soon enough,” calling the lapse a collective failure.
“Today we are experiencing a terrible failure at the Louvre, which I take my share of responsibility in,” she said.
The director added that she offered her resignation to France’s Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who refused to accept it.
Des Cars said that the heist exposed critical weaknesses in the museum’s security infrastructure, including a shortage of outdoor cameras and aging surveillance equipment.
The camera nearest the entry point, she said, “was directed westward and therefore did not cover the balcony involved in the break-in.” She also called for a permanent police station inside the museum and proposed new barriers to keep vehicles from parking near the building.
The Louvre, which welcomes around 30,000 visitors daily, reopened on Wednesday after being closed for three days.
Visitors queued under heavy security to reenter the world’s most famous museum, still reeling from the daylight theft that stunned France and the global art world.
According to investigators, four men used a truck equipped with an extendable ladder to access a balcony window of the Galerie d’Apollon shortly after the museum opened at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
Disguised as maintenance workers, they erected bollards to make the operation appear legitimate. Within four minutes, the thieves fled on motorbikes through central Paris, carrying eight historic jewels dating back to the Napoleonic era.
Among the stolen items was an emerald-and-diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon Bonaparte to Empress Marie-Louise, and a diamond-studded diadem belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. The thieves dropped another piece, Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown, as they escaped. It was later recovered, damaged but intact.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the theft as “an attack on a heritage that we cherish.” None of the stolen jewels were insured, and the museum stands to receive no compensation if they are not recovered.
The heist has reignited long-standing staff concerns about security and understaffing. In June, employees staged a walkout to protest overcrowding and insufficient monitoring.
Earlier this year, Macron announced a major renovation plan for the Louvre, including upgrades to its aging security systems, a project now more urgent than ever.
