The Louvre’s security system was deemed “outdated and inadequate” by an audit leaked to the public hours after the burglary of French crown jewels on Sunday morning. The report has renewed criticism over the management of the world’s most popular museum, which has faced accusations from its staff that the over-crowding of its galleries was impeding their ability to safeguard the 36,000-works on view at any time.
The French Culture Ministry issued a statement on Sunday afternoon stressing that the security system in place in the Apollo Gallery had operated as designed: “The alarms… were triggered. At the time of the break-in, which was particularly fast and severe, the five museum staff present in the room and adjacent areas intervened immediately to apply the security protocol.”
That such treasures could be taken in broad daylight and within operating hours has still raised sharp questions about the state of security at the Louvre, which is the highest-trafficked arts and cultural institution in the world. Le Monde reports that the chain of responsibility at the museum is now under scrutiny, as a theft of this magnitude had not taken place since the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911. (The painting was recovered in Italy two years later.) The last reported theft at the Louvre was executed in 1998, when the Camille Corot painting Le chemin de Sèvres (ca. 1850s) was taken. The work was never found.
The Court of Auditors cited a “considerable delay in bringing the technical installations of the world’s most visited museum up to standard” in a preliminary report on the security of the Louvre. (The Court of Accounts is equivalent in function to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in the United States.) The report, leaked to the media in the hours following the theft, detailed a lack of standard equipment such as CCTV.
The French newspaper Le Figaro quoted the report, which was set to be released to the public next month, as saying: “Because of repeated postponements of the scheduled modernization of security systems, cameras have mainly been installed only when rooms have been refurbished.” The report added: “Under the effect of increasing visitor numbers, the museum’s technical equipment became obsolete much more rapidly.”
In the Denon wing, where the Apollo Gallery is located, a third of rooms have no CCTV cameras, according to the report. Its authors also pointed out that only 138 additional cameras have been installed in the museum.
“I myself, as soon as I took up my post at the Louvre, alerted the authorities to the fact that we felt we needed to improve our skills. I therefore asked the police headquarters for an audit
,” Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre since September 2021, told press on Sunday after the theft.
Despite the Louvre’s annual operating budget of €323 million ($376 million), “the amounts committed are small compared to the estimated needs
,” said the report, which also pointed out “a tendency to make the start of work a budgetary adjustment variable
.”
France’s justice minister Gérald Darmanin on Sunday compared what French media had dubbed the “heist of the century” to the 2019 burning of Notre-Dame: “This morning, the French people, for the most part, feel as though they have been robbed.” Darmanin said that though it was impossible to “completely secure all locations” in the Louvre, “what is certain is that we have failed.” Darmanin added that the heist gave “a deplorable image of France.”
Rachida Dati, the culture minister, said that “the protection and security of the national heritage have been undervalued.” Following a crisis meeting on Sunday, Dati announced that new CCTV equipment would be installed in the museum. A government inquiry into the theft and security failings at the museum will be launched in parallel with the police investigation, she added.
“We need to establish exactly what happened,” Dati said. “The museum was not designed to receive 10 to 12 million visitors a year … We are obliged to adapt it to new forms of criminality and to upgrade all the security systems to meet modern standards.”
Earlier this year, the Louvre and President Emmanuel Macron jointly announced a major renovation of the museum, to the estimated cost of €700 million-€800 million (roughly $815 million-$932 million). Dati said on Sunday that a portion of the renovation budget would be dedicated to bringing museum security in line with the audit’s recommendations.
Le Monde wrote that the museum was swiftly closed to the public on Sunday, while Louvre president Laurence des Cars broke news of the theft to the staff. Des Cars’s announcement was reportedly met with boos from some employees and accusations that oversight from museum leadership was to blame for the loss of the crown jewels. Among their criticisms was that the “security” plan, designed to upgrade the museum’s security system, had been postponed in the 2025-2029 performance contract. Staff also cited a consistent lack of resources hampered their ability to care for the collection. The museum’s attendance numbers had long exceeded the building’s intended capacity, exacerbating security concerns, they added. (Some 8.7 million people visited the Louvre in 2024.)
In a statement published on Sunday, the culture branch of the CFDT trade union, which represents staff across multiple museum departments, called for “a full and independent audit of security and prevention systems… increased staffing for surveillance and reception… and complete transparency on the investigation’s findings.”
According to the French Ministry of Culture and local media, heist was carried out within seven minutes. The Louvre Museum in Paris had been open to the public for 30 minutes when, around 9:30 a.m., four people disguised as construction workers drove up the side of the museum in what French authorities described as a “mobile freight elevator” equipped with a metal ladder, forced open a window in full view of the street, and reached the Apollo Gallery.
Located on the first floor, the gallery houses the French crown jewels, among other objects of national cultural significance. The thieves smashed two high-security displays to nab at least eight objects “of inestimable heritage and historical value,” including broaches, diadems, necklaces, and earrings, according to a statement from the Culture Ministry issued yesterday. The gang left from the same window and fled the area on electric scooters.
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed in a statement shared on social media that the stolen treasures will be recovered. Among the loot was a necklace inlaid with eight sapphires and 631 diamonds from the sapphire collection of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense; and an emerald necklace and pair of emerald earrings from the collection of Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife. According to the museum, in their haste to escape Louvre security staff, the burglars dropped Empress Eugénie’s crown, set with 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds. The crown was recovered, but damaged.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, in an interview with France Inter radio on Sunday, said that the heist was executed by “experienced professionals,” adding that he was “hopeful” the thieves would be apprehended “very soon.” He added that an investigation into “theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime” has been opened.
