The Louvre’s ageing security camera system failed to detect the thieves in time to prevent their historic heist, the museum’s director said yesterday as the museum reopened to visitors.
On Sunday, the thieves broke into the world-famous Paris museum using a crane to smash an upstairs window, then stole French crown jewels worth an estimated $102 million before escaping on motorbikes.
“Despite our efforts, despite our hard work every day, we were defeated,” Laurence des Cars, the Louvre director, told a Senate committee.
“We did not detect the thieves’ arrival early enough,” she said, blaming it on the fact that there were not enough cameras outside monitoring the vicinity of the museum.
The outside security cameras do not offer full coverage of the museum’s facade, she said, adding that, in particular, the window through which the thieves broke in was not monitored by CCTV.
Des Cars insisted she had repeatedly warned that the centuries-old building’s security was in a dire state.
“The warnings I had been sounding came horribly true last Sunday,” she said.
She added that she had handed in her resignation to Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who had refused it.
The thieves slipped in and out, making off with eight pieces from France’s Crown Jewels at the world’s most-visited museum – a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of Notre-Dame cathedral in 2019.
The raid – steps from the Mona Lisa – has put embattled President Emmanuel Macron, Des Cars and others under fresh scrutiny.
It comes just months after employees went on strike, warning of chronic understaffing and under-resourced protections, with too few eyes on too many rooms.
President Macron has urged ministers to speed up the introduction of security measures at the Louvre as it reopened, a government spokeswoman said.
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