Louvre Museum’s $157 Million Jewellery Heist: A ‘National Humiliation’ Exposed by Shocking CCTV Gaps and Security Lapses
- Thieves used a crane to smash into the Louvre’s second-floor window, escaping with $157 million worth of precious jewels in just four minutes.
- Louvre director Laurence des Cars admits to ‘unacceptable’ security failures, revealing that exterior CCTV cameras didn’t cover the entire facade, and the broken window wasn’t monitored.
- Ms des Cars has offered her resignation, but it was refused by Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who’s also under fire for the shocking daylight heist.
In a stunning admission, Louvre Museum’s director Laurence des Cars has confessed to ‘unacceptable’ security lapses that led to the brazen $157 million jewellery heist. The thieves, who used a crane to smash into the second-floor window, escaped with precious jewels in just four minutes, leaving the world stunned and French authorities scrambling for answers.
Ms des Cars revealed that the exterior security cameras failed to detect the thieves’ arrival early enough, and the broken window wasn’t monitored by CCTV. This shocking revelation has sparked outrage and soul-searching in France, with many labelling the incident a ‘national humiliation’.
‘Despite our efforts, despite our hard work every day, we were defeated,’ Ms des Cars told a senate committee, her voice laced with regret. ‘The warnings I had been sounding came horribly true last Sunday.’
The Louvre, which has reopened, has pledged to establish no-parking perimeters around the museum, upgrade the CCTV network, and ask the interior ministry to set up a police station inside the museum. However, the damage has already been done, with the thieves making off with eight precious items, including a sapphire diadem, a necklace, and a single earring linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
As the investigation continues, authorities are still trying to understand how the thieves managed to pull off the heist without being caught. ‘It felt like a normal day,’ said 29-year-old Madrid resident Tomás Álvarez, who visited the Louvre on the day of the heist. ‘I didn’t notice extra security – guards as always, and no police inside.’
The Louvre’s security failures have raised concerns about the safety of France’s cultural institutions, with at least four French museums being robbed in the last two months. As the world waits with bated breath for the thieves to be caught and the stolen jewels to be recovered, one thing is certain – the Louvre’s reputation has been forever tarnished by this shocking incident.