{"id":233779,"date":"2025-10-23T06:50:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T06:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/233779\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T06:50:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T06:50:06","slug":"louvre-director-recognises-jewel-theft-failures-says-she-offered-to-resign-arts-and-culture-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/233779\/","title":{"rendered":"Louvre director recognises jewel theft failures, says she offered to resign | Arts and Culture News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laurence des Cars told France\u2019s Senate the heist exposed the museum\u2019s camera shortage and other security \u2033weaknesses\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Louvre\u2019s director has said a \u201cterrible failure\u201d in security at the iconic Paris museum resulted in last weekend\u2019s daylight crown jewel heist, adding that she offered her resignation to France\u2019s culture minister, but it was refused.<\/p>\n

Attempting to explain to the French Senate on Wednesday how thieves made off with an estimated 88 million euros ($102m) in jewels, Laurence des Cars acknowledged that staff \u201cdid not detect the arrival of the thieves soon enough\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we are experiencing a terrible failure at the Louvre, which I take my share of responsibility in,\u201d she told the senators, adding that she submitted her resignation to Culture Minister Rachida Dati. She added that Dati, however, turned down the resignation offer.<\/p>\n

Des Cars said Sunday\u2019s heist exposed the museum\u2019s shortage of security cameras outside the monument, as well as other \u201cweaknesses\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said while the Louvre\u2019s alarms were working properly during the heist, some of the museum\u2019s cameras are \u201cageing\u201d, while the one nearest the thieves\u2019 entry point was \u201cdirected westward and therefore did not cover the balcony involved in the break-in\u201d.<\/p>\n

Des Cars said she would push for a police station to be placed inside the museum, while she also suggested that barriers be erected to prevent vehicles from parking directly alongside the buildings.<\/p>\n

The Louvre \u2013 which welcomes 30,000 visitors a day \u2013 reopened<\/a> on Wednesday, with tourists queueing up to enter the world\u2019s largest and most-visited museum for the first time since the audacious daytime heist which stunned the world.<\/p>\n

Four men used a truck with an extendable ladder to access a balcony window, entering the Galerie d\u2019Apollon (Apollo\u2019s Gallery) through a window shortly after the museum opened at 9.30am on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The thieves erected bollards on the street to make it look as though they were carrying out maintenance work, des Cars explained.<\/p>\n

In total, the thieves spent less than four minutes inside the Louvre before making off with eight pieces dating back to the Napoleonic era. They made their getaway on motorbikes through central Paris. Three days on, the jewels remain missing and the thieves at large.<\/p>\n

Among the haul was an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon Bonaparte gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise. Also stolen was a diadem that once belonged to Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.<\/p>\n

The thieves also dropped Eugenie\u2019s emerald-set imperial crown \u2013 encrusted with more than 1,300 diamonds \u2013 as they fled. It was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the heist as an \u201cattack on a heritage that we cherish\u201d.<\/p>\n

None of the stolen items was privately insured, and the Louvre will not be compensated if they are not found. Insuring such priceless works would cost billions annually.<\/p>\n

Staff at the Louvre have repeatedly highlighted concerns around understaffing and overcrowding, with very few eyes on too many rooms, resulting in a staff walkout in protest in June.<\/p>\n

In January, Macron announced a substantial renovation plan for the Louvre, which will include security upgrades, after des Cars complained of its derelict state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laurence des Cars told France\u2019s Senate the heist exposed the museum\u2019s camera shortage and other security \u2033weaknesses\u201d. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,6175,354,355,49,48,2169,356,75,3456,637,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-233779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-culture","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-crime","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-europe","18":"tag-france","19":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}