Louvre says hundreds of works damaged by water

A water leak in late November damaged several hundred works in the Louvre's Egyptian department, the Paris museum told AFP on Sunday, weeks after a brazen jewel theft raised concerns over its infrastructure.

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“Between 300 and 400 works” were affected by the leak discovered on Nov 26, said the museum's deputy administrator Francis Steinbock, describing them as “Egyptology journals” and “scientific documentation” used by researchers.

The damaged items date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are “extremely useful” but are “by no means unique,” Mr Steinbock added.

“No heritage artefacts have been affected by this damage,” he said, adding that “at this stage, we have no irreparable and definitive losses in these collections.”