Louvre director offers her resignation after heist

She will keep her job, however, despite the theft of the Crown Jewels of France.

- BY THOMAS ADAMSON AND SYLVIE CORBET

VISITORS queue as the Louvre reopens Wednesday following a Sunday theft of over $100 million in jewels.

(THIBAUD MORITZ AFP/Getty Image)

The director of the Louvre Museum on Wednesday acknowledged a “terrible failure” at the Paris monument after a stunning daylight crown jewel heist at the world’s most-visited museum, and said she offered to resign but it was refused.

The Louvre reopened earlier in the day to long lines beneath its landmark Paris glass pyramid for the first time since one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with its audacity and scale.

In testimony to the French Senate, Louvre director Laurence des Cars said the museum had a damaging shortage of security cameras outside the monument and other “weaknesses” exposed by Sunday’s theft.

Under heavy pressure over a theft that stained France's global image, she testified to a Senate committee that she submitted her resignation but that the culture minister refused to accept it.

“Today we are experiencing a terrible failure at the Louvre, which I take my share of responsibility in,” she said.

The thieves slipped in and out, making off with eight pieces from France's Crown Jewels at the world’s most-visited museum — a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of Notre-Dame in 2019.

Thieves not detected soon enough

The Sunday theft of jewels valued at over $100 million has put embattled President Emmanuel Macron, Culture Minister Rachida Dati, Des Cars and others under fresh scrutiny. It comes just months after employees went on strike, warning of chronic understaffing and under-resourced protections, with too few eyes on too many rooms.

“We did not detect the arrival of the thieves soon enough,” Des Cars said.