The Louvre Museum is racing to overhaul its security systems and repair crumbling infrastructure, one year after a daylight heist saw eight crown jewels stolen from the world's most visited museum.
The theft exposed severe lapses across the Parisian landmark, including obsolete or absent surveillance cameras, missing equipment, and the lack of a modern security operations center or a security director. Prior to the break-in, administrative delays and management decisions had left all but three million euros of an allocated 83-million-euro security budget unspent, with the French Court of Auditors concluding that leadership had prioritized visible and attractive projects instead.
The fallout, combined with a staff strike, a ticket-fraud scandal, and an internal water leak, prompted the resignation of museum president Laurence des Cars in February. Under her successor, Christophe Leribault, the museum appointed a dedicated security director in July and committed roughly 20 million euros annually through 2032 to modernize protections.
"The security masterplan is making rapid progress," Leribault said in a written statement, pointing to the logistical difficulties of carrying out extensive upgrades while keeping the palace open to the public.
Lawmakers monitoring the reforms caution that structural transformation will take time. Laurent Lafon, chairman of the French Senate's culture committee, stated, "The Louvre needs a change in security culture, which has yet to happen and will take several years."
Beyond security, the museum faces mounting structural decay across its halls, which receive nearly nine million visitors each year. The complex suffers from aging electrical wiring, deteriorating plumbing, poor ventilation in summer, and unheated galleries during winter.
Leribault issued a stark warning earlier this week, stating "that if the Louvre is not repaired, updated, and transformed, it will very quickly fall behind and will eventually have to close its doors to the public."
In January 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a one-billion-euro overhaul titled "Louvre — Nouvelle Renaissance," proposing a new entrance and dedicated gallery for the Mona Lisa. However, labor unions have criticized the plan as unrealistic amid national budget pressures, arguing that administrators should prioritize basic safety and maintenance over costly architectural expansions.
