The Louvre Museum will take years to correct security flaws, says an audit that began ten years ago, long before the robbery two weeks ago. At the time, auditors demanded that the Museum accelerate its modernization plans.
The French Court of Auditors criticized this Thursday the lack of investment in security at the Louvre Museum in Paris, three weeks after the daylight robbery of jewels worth 88 million euros.
This case “is, without a doubt, a blunt warning about the woefully inadequate pace” of renewing and updating security equipment at the museum, said the president of that French supervisory authority, Pierre Moscovici, at a press conference.
The former European Commissioner for Economy and Taxation and former French Finance Minister presented a report covering the period between 2018 and 2024, already foreseen before the attack on October 19th.
The Louvre “gave priority to visible and attractive projects to the detriment of the maintenance and renovation of buildings and technical installations, particularly those related to security”, attested in the document the French Court of Auditors, which regularly examines various institutions to look after the public treasury.
“Despite the abundant resources [receitas]the museum, due to the lack of planning of numerous projects, faces a mountain of investments that it is unable to finance”, he warned.
The Louvre administration reacted, saying it accepted “most of the recommendations” made, although it argued that the report “did not recognize” several measures, particularly in the area of security.
As already stated in a preliminary document, the court highlighted “a considerable delay in the pace of investments” given the “accelerated deterioration” of the museum, which received nine million visitors in 2024, of which 80% were foreign tourists.
Moscovici also contradicted the sector’s workers’ unions, in whose opinion the theft was only possible, in part, due to the lack of security personnel, arguing that “improvements in security are possible without a significant increase in the number of employees”.
“The robbery of October 19 (…) demonstrates, on the contrary, that it was facilitated thanks to inadequate security equipment”, stated the president of the court.
There had already been similar warnings in the preliminary conclusions of the investigation launched by the Ministry of Culture, following the robbery.
The responsible minister, Rachida Dati, declared that there was a “chronic and structural underestimation of the risk of intrusion and theft” by the museum and also “inadequate security measures”.
Dati then announced measures to deal with the “serious security breach” in the vicinity of the Louvre, including “anti-collision and anti-intrusion measures”, which he guaranteed would be implemented “before the end of the year”.
The French minister also asked the museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, who has presided over the administration since September 2021, to “review the institution’s governance model” and create “a new security department, which reports to the presidency” of the Louvre.
The Louvre administration has scheduled an extraordinary meeting for Friday, after Laurence des Cars admitted flaws in the security system in the hearing before the Culture Committee of the French Senate, which questioned her.
It all happened 19 days ago, on a Sunday morning and with the museum operating normally, when four thieves stopped a forklift machine in one of the streets adjacent to the historic building and two entered the Galeria de Apolo, through the lifting platform.
Having broken into a window, they stole royal and imperial jewels, using angle grinders to open the showcases where the pieces were stored, before fleeing using the same method.
Until now, – three allegedly for direct participation in the theft – but the whereabouts of the jewelry remain unknown.
With LUSA
