Paris. New surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems will soon be installed at the Louvre Museum, Laurence des Cars, director of the institution, announced yesterday, following the shocking theft of jewels from its collection last month.
A hundred cameras will be ready by the end of next year, while the anti-intrusion systems will begin to be installed within two weeks, the director indicated.
He described the systems as equipment that will prevent intruders from approaching the museum buildings, without offering further details. The new surveillance cameras will provide “complete protection of the museum’s surroundings,” he said.
“After the shock and evaluation, it is time to act” in the most visited museum in the world, Des Cars told the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.
He commented that everything is part of more than 20 emergency measures that will be implemented. The new measures also include the creation of a “security coordinator” position at the museum.
On the day of the robbery, it took the thieves less than eight minutes to break through a window in the Apolo Gallery, with the help of a forklift, and steal the €88 million loot.
Des Cars revealed some new details about the security breach that allowed the October 19 theft, saying that the power tools used by the thieves to cut the display cases were disc cutters intended for concrete.
“It’s a method that hadn’t been imagined at all” when the Apollo Gallery’s display cases were replaced in 2019, he said. At the time, they had been designed primarily to counter an attack from inside the museum with weapons, he added.
Images from the museum’s cameras show that during the theft, the display cases “held up remarkably well and did not break,” he said. “The videos show how difficult it was for the thieves.”
Des Cars emphasized that improving security is a priority of the decade-long “New Renaissance of the Louvre” plan launched earlier this year, with an estimated cost of up to 800 million euros to modernize infrastructure, relieve congestion and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery for 2031.
With the Louvre reeling under the weight of mass tourism, Des Cars has restricted the daily number of visitors to 30,000.
He recalled that the famous glass pyramid inaugurated in 1989 was destined to receive 4 million visitors a year. This year, more than 8 million people have already visited the Louvre.
“The extensive modernization that the Louvre underwent in the 1980s is now technically obsolete, with equipment that has been over-functioning for 40 years,” Des Cars said.