Macron accepts Louvre director’s resignation after crown jewel heist

Louvre Museum Director Resigns After October Crown Jewel Heist

Laurence des Cars, the first woman to lead the Louvre Museum, resigned on Tuesday after months of mounting pressure over a brazen daylight theft that stripped France of crown jewels valued at approximately €88 million and exposed deep security failures at the world’s most visited museum.

French President Emmanuel Macron accepted the resignation, calling it “an act of responsibility, at a time when the greatest museum in the world needs stability and a strong new commitment to undertake the work for its security, its modernisation” and the museum’s sweeping renovation plan, known as the “Louvre New Renaissance,” according to a statement from the Élysée Palace. A successor is expected to be named on Wednesday.artnews

Des Cars had first offered to resign the night of the October 19 heist, but Culture Minister Rachida Dati refused to accept it. In a statement Tuesday, des Cars described the Louvre as “fragile” and said she could “no longer fully fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to me”.tmz

A Cascade of Crises

The October robbery saw four thieves disguised as construction workers use a mechanical ladder to access a riverside balcony, cut through display cases in the Galerie d’Apollon with disc grinders, and flee with eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels in under eight minutes. Among the stolen items were an emerald necklace gifted by Napoleon to Empress Marie-Louise and jewels belonging to 19th-century French royalty. The jewels remain missing.wikipedia

A French Senate inquiry in December found the thieves escaped with just 30 seconds to spare, aided by a broken surveillance camera, insufficient monitoring screens, and a communication failure that sent police to the wrong location. A parliamentary commission report released in February described “systemic failures” and accused museum management of ignoring known risks and prior security audits, including a 2019 assessment that flagged the very balcony the thieves used.cnn

But the heist was only the beginning. In November, a water leak from an obsolete heating system damaged 300 to 400 items in the Egyptology archives. Staff unions called a rolling strike in December over deteriorating conditions. And earlier this month, nine people were arrested in connection with a suspected decade-long ticket fraud scheme that may have cost the museum more than €10 million, with two Louvre employees among those detained.rfi

What Comes Next

The succession of scandals has intensified focus on Macron’s ambitious renovation plan for the Louvre, unveiled in January 2025 and estimated to cost at least €800 million. The museum has also raised ticket prices for most non-EU visitors by 45 percent to fund structural improvements.theguardian

Des Cars will now take on a mission focused on cooperation among major museums during France’s presidency of the Group of Seven, according to Macron’s office. Her resignation came one day before she was scheduled to testify before the French Parliament about the security failures. For many in France’s cultural world, the departure answered months of questions over why no top official had stepped down after what has been called the most humiliating breach of French heritage security in living memory.abc7news