Louvre losses put at €90m as museum's chief faces scrutiny

The financial losses from France’s most dramatic heist in decades have been put at nearly €90m as the head of the Louvre prepared to face difficult questions over how thieves were able to steal priceless jewellery in broad daylight.

- Philip Oltermann European culture editor

under tight security after the €90m heist

(JEANNE ACCORSINI/SHUTTERSTOCK)

As police continued to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery on Sunday, the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, told the broadcaster RTL that the museum’s curator had estimated the losses at about €88m (£76m).

The Louvre’s president and director, Laurence des Cars, is expected to respond to questions from the parliament's culture committee this afternoon, three days after the seven-minute robbery that targeted France’s crown jewels.

Shortly after the Louvre’s opening on Sunday morning, a gang of four thieves forced their way into the museum’s Apollo gallery using a ladder from a furniture hoist on the street below and made off with eight pieces of Napoleonic jewellery.

It is unclear whether the museum, which shut in the immediate aftermath of the robbery and remained closed on Monday and yesterday, will reopen today.