During the period 2019-2024, the Louvre museum “has not managed to catch up in the deployment of equipment intended to guarantee the protection of the works,” notes the Court of Auditors, in a report consulted by AFP.
This institution points out that, in recent years, security equipment has been installed in the rooms that host loans from other museums for temporary exhibitions, to the detriment of the permanent collection.
But when video surveillance equipment exists, “it is partly obsolete,” laments Christian Galani, a museum worker. This representative of the CGT union also points out the lack of security agents: “You can go through several spaces without coming across any of them.”
Deputies could soon follow in the footsteps of researchers if legislator Alexandre Portier’s proposal to create a commission of inquiry into “museum security” is successful.
In recent months, pieces have also been stolen from other museums in France. The authorities decided this Monday to reinforce security.
“How far will the disintegration of the State go?”, denounced on social networks Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right opposition party National Rally (RN), for whom it is “an unbearable humiliation” for France.
This is not the first time that thieves have attacked the Louvre. In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen, but the work was recovered months later and is now displayed behind safety glass.
