The day after the French Court of Auditors questioned in a devastating report the management of the Louvre museum after the theft of Napoleon’s jewels on October 19, the president of the museum, Laurence des Cars, defended herself from the criticism, which she considers excessive. Naturally he admitted that the video surveillance network is one of the museum’s “weak points”. He told the France Info network on the same day that an extraordinary board of directors was held, convened at the request of the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, to address the governance of the Louvre and security problems. The art gallery, which is the most visited in the world, “needs modernization more than ever, to become a museum of the 21st century, which it is not today”, he admitted in an interview with the aforementioned network.
The board of directors was held the day after the publication by the Court of Auditors of a document that analyzes the period 2018-2024 and in which it reproaches the museum for having favored the acquisition of works (2,754 pieces in eight years) over the modernization and improvement of the structures.
The report was closed before the assault on the 19th, which revealed security gaps: four men climbed in broad daylight on an escalator to the balcony leading to the Apollo Gallery, one of the most visited and where the Crown jewels were located. Armed with radials, they broke the cases where the eight pieces were and exited the way they had entered. All in seven minutes. In these three weeks, a total of seven people were arrested. Four of them are in precautionary custody, even if the jewels, with an estimated cost of 88 million euros but with an incalculable asset value, are not yet available.
“The Court of Auditors is wrong to be so severe, because we have fulfilled our mission and we have understood the extent of the security problems of the museum”, explained to France Info the president of the Louvre, who presented her resignation after the attack, but the French president, Emmanuel Macron, rejected it.
The period covered by the organization’s report also implicates former Louvre president Jean-Luc Martinez. She was in office until 2021, when Laurence des Cars, the first woman to lead the art gallery, arrived. It defended itself from criticism by insisting that the Court of Auditors “carry out an assessment from an accounting point of view”. He denies any irregularity in the management of the art gallery, but said that from today “a security plan” will come into force, without specifying.
The main reproach leveled by the organization is that in all these years it has given priority to the acquisition of works and other “operations with the aim of attracting visitors”. The Louvre welcomes around eight million people every year (8.7 million in 2024), 300,000 a day.
The organization underlines that, taking into account the increase in public attendance, the Louvre’s video surveillance network is insufficient. Only 40% of the museum’s rooms are equipped with cameras. Laurence des Cars claims that 134 more cameras will be installed between 2023 and 2025. “I don’t have the feeling of having failed, but rather of carrying forward a project to transform the Louvre, because immediately after taking office I was aware of the problems,” he insisted.
The council justified this acquisition policy which the Court of Auditors considers excessive, since 20% of museum ticket revenues were dedicated to it. According to Laurence des Cars, these purchases are not in conflict with the modernization works and argued that the acquisition of some works was one of the priorities, since it means enriching the national heritage.
According to him, some pieces were financed thanks to donations or contributions from companies such as LVMH, which contributed more than 15 million euros for one of the latest acquisitions, a work by Jean Siméon Chardin.
No one imagined an assault like the one on October 19th. Between 2018 and 20245, the Louvre mobilized only 27 million euros of its budget for structure maintenance work and 60 million for restoration work. This contrasts with the 105.4 million committed to acquiring jobs.
