French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Louvre director Laurence des Cars, who had come under intense criticism after thieves stole priceless jewelry from the museum in a brazen daytime heist last year.
The Louvre has faced a string of problems in recent months beyond the October robbery, including suspected large-scale ticket fraud that may have been going on for a decade, floods that reportedly damaged a ceiling painting and historic books, and labor unrest that has disrupted visitors.
The French government said on Wednesday that Christophe Leribault, an experienced art historian who currently heads the Palace of Versailles, will replace Des Cars.
Macron’s office described Des Cars’ resignation as “an act of responsibility at a time when the world’s largest museum needs calm and a strong new impetus to carry out major projects involving security upgrades, modernization” and other initiatives. Des Cars was appointed director of the Louvre in 2021.
The museum, the world’s most visited with as many as 9 million visitors a year, is still recovering from the October 19 theft. Around 9:30 a.m. that day, a group of thieves forced entry through a window using power tools including a disc cutter. A crane lift mounted on a truck was used in the raid. The group made off with French crown jewels, reportedly worth about €88 million ($102 million), pieces once worn by queens and empresses of France.
Several suspects have been arrested during the investigation, but the jewels have not been recovered.
The heist exposed security weaknesses at the Louvre. France’s chief architect for historical monuments has warned that many European museums are housed in historic buildings not designed for modern security needs. Des Cars acknowledged last year that the museum lacked sufficient external surveillance cameras and had other vulnerabilities highlighted by the theft. She said earlier she would review governance at the museum. Des Cars had offered to resign on the day of the robbery, an offer Culture Minister Rachida Dati initially rejected.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
