Louvre Director Says Her Resignation Wasn't Accepted

The director of the Louvre said Wednesday that she submitted her resignation after Sunday's jewel heist but France's culture minister refused to accept it. Laurence des Cars, testifying to the French Senate, admitted that there had been a "terrible failure" at the Paris museum and she takes her share of responsibility, the AP reports. She acknowledged that security hadn't spotted the thieves, who arrived in a truck equipped with an extendable ladder, early enough to prevent the theft. She testified that the museum's security equipment was working, but it wasn't good enough.

• Only camera was facing the wrong way: Des Cars testified that the only exterior camera covering the Gallery of Apollo was not facing the balcony the thieves entered from, the BBC reports. "There is a weakness at the Louvre and I acknowledge it completely," she said. "We have a weakness in our perimeter coverage."

• She says she was a "whistleblower" on security: The director said she was warned about "obsolete" equipment when she took the Louvre job in 2021. She said she repeatedly warned that upgrades were needed. "I am wounded as chair and director that the warnings I was raising—as a whistleblower, in a sense—have come to pass last Sunday," she said, per the BBC. The New York Times reports that a report from France's national auditor that was being prepared before the heist found that CCTV was inadequate and spending on Louvre security was well below the level it was at 20 years ago.
• Other threats were a focus: Des Cars acknowledged that a lot of security planning focused on other threats, especially activists' attempts to throw paint or soup on artwork the the Louvre.
• Next steps: The director pledged to establish no-parking perimeters around the Louvre and upgrade the CCTV network, reports Reuters. She said she would also seek to set up a police station inside the museum, which had almost 9 million visitors last year.

The thieves, who escaped on motorbikes after spending less than four minutes inside the museum, made off with jewels worth an estimated $102 million, not including their historical value. Des Cars said one of the eight stolen items, a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugénie, was found outside the building. She said it was damaged by its extraction from a showcase but it can be restored. "It is the object that can be saved from this catastrophe," she said. Experts fear the other stolen crown jewels may be lost forever.