LONDON — The president and director of the Louvre Museum in Paris has been summoned to look earlier than French lawmakers amid the continuing investigation into the brazen heist of priceless jewellery over the weekend.
Laurence des Vehicles has been summoned to look earlier than France’s Senate Tradition Committee on Wednesday to a solution questions relating to the museum’s safety and what could have went flawed on Sunday when 9 “priceless” items have been swiped from the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery.
A nationwide manhunt for the thieves has been in excessive gear because the theft on Sunday as French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that authorities would catch these chargeable for the “assault on a heritage that we cherish as a result of it’s our historical past.”
The thieves went straight to 2 shows, breaking them and taking a “important quantity of loot,” French Tradition Minister Rachida Dati informed ABC Information.
“They knew precisely the place they have been going,” Dati mentioned. “It appears like one thing very organized and really skilled.”
Among the many jewellery taken within the brazen daytime heist was a pearl and diamond tiara from the gathering of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense, based on the Louvre.
On whether or not she believes the jewels are gone for good, Dati mentioned she has “confidence within the investigators.”
“They’re one of the best staff ever for this investigation, so I’m fairly assured,” she mentioned. “Some leads have been discovered, so the vital factor is just not losing time, particularly in such a case.”
Dati mentioned the proof collected up to now factors to “organized crime,” however added that investigators haven’t dominated out that the heist may have been an inside job.
A safety worker with a canine stands close to the glass Pyramid of the Louvre Museum because the museum stays closed the day after a spectacular jewel heist by thieves who broke into the landmark by utilizing a crane and smashing an upstairs window, stealing priceless jewellery from an space that homes the French crown jewels earlier than escaping on motorbikes, in Paris, France, October 20, 2025.
Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Dati mentioned that as a part of the beefed-up safety for the Louvre, she is asking {that a} police station be positioned inside the museum, fairly than having solely museum safety on website.
Requested by ABC Information whether or not she is assured that priceless artworks and artifacts on show on the Louvre, together with Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” are protected, Dati mentioned, “It is all being checked out.”
“What you need to bear in mind about France is that our buildings are historic monuments,” Dati mentioned. “So, it’s extra complicated to safe them.”
A report set to be printed within the coming weeks by Cour des Comptes, the supreme auditing establishment in France, discovered a big delay within the “deployment of kit supposed to make sure safety” of the works inside the Louvre from 2019 by 2024.
The report, a portion of which was obtained by ABC Information, discovered that some rooms on the Louvre are usually not utterly protected by a video surveillance system, together with the Sully Wing, which is simply 40% lined by safety cameras, and the Richelieu Wing, which is simply 25% lined by cameras. The stolen Napoleon jewels have been housed within the Gallery of Apollo, which isn’t situated in both of these wings.
The report additionally discovered that whereas preliminary research have been performed lately about methods to bolster safety on the Louvre, “operational implementation seems uneven and customarily very restricted.”
The Louvre remained closed on Tuesday amid the continuing investigation and the museum is refunding tickets which have already been bought by guests.
ABC Information’ Aicha El Hammar Castano, Kevin Shalvey and Invoice Hutchinson contributed to this report.
