A report from the French Court of Auditors leaked in the wake of the spectacular jewellery robbery at the Louvre has found that there have been “persistent” delays to upgrading the famed museum’s security.
In broad daylight on Sunday, a group of four thieves used a cherry picker ladder on the back of a truck to reach the second floor window of the museum, breaking the a glass window to enter the Apollo Gallery.
Within just seven minutes they had broken into the building and left with a selection of France’s Crown Jewels, including emerald and sapphire earrings, necklaces, and tiaras from the Marie-Louise, Queen Marie-Amélie, Queen Hortense, and Empress Eugénie collections.
The thieves failed, however, to take the 140-carat Regent Diamond worn by Louis XV and Napoleon. In their haste, they also apparently dropped the diamond-encrusted crown of Empress Eugénie, which was found near the Louvre in the wake of the heist.
The scandalous failure to protect the priceless historical artefacts has raised questions about the state of security at the world’s most famous museum.
Amid the national uproar, sections of a report from the independent Court of Auditors, which was due to be released in December, have been leaked to the Paris press. According to paper of record Le Figaro, the report found that there has been a “persistent postponement of the master plan for the modernization of security equipment”.
This has resulted, the Court of Auditors claimed, in major wings of the museum failing to be completely covered with video surveillance cameras, including the Sully and Richelieu wings.
The report went on the find that “as a result of increasing attendance, the obsolescence cycle of the museum’s technical equipment has accelerated significantly more than the rate of investment made by the institution to address it.”
The Court pointed specifically to bureaucratic blunders as a chief cause of delays to upgrades, noting that frequent “studies” often take years to complete. Indeed, the report found that even the 2004 master plan to upgrade the museum’s fire prevention system is yet to be fully implemented.
On Monday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez issued orders to prefects to increase security surrounding culturally significant institutions in the wake of the Louvre robbery. The government minister called for “an immediate review of the existing measures already deployed around cultural institutions, and to strengthen security measures where necessary.”
While the museum was scheduled to re-open on Monday, a sudden closure was announced, sparking confusion among the long line of tourists who had lined up outside of the glass pyramid.
President Macron has promised swift action to return the Crown Jewels and to detain the brazen thieves. However, some have warned that the jewellery may have already been destroyed, amid sky-high gold prices.
Juliane Delsol of France’s National Federation of Art Experts said that it would likely be difficult for the theives to find buyers for the jewels in their current form and thus, they would likely be broken down and dismantled and sent abroad.
“Their value far exceeds the price of the metal: they carry a story. And that’s precisely what dooms them. If they reappear, it will be in an unrecognisable form,” she said.
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