Լուվրի ղեկավարությունը առաջնահերթություն է տվել ձեռքբերումներին, քան անվտանգությանը, ասում են աուդիտորները

The Louvre's policies between 2018 and 2024 neglected the museum's security, France's Court of Accounts said in a report published Thursday, November 6, but written prior to the dramatic heist on October 19, and therefore not referring to it. In short, the museum, facing a daunting investment challenge with its ambitious €1-billion Nouvelle Renaissance project, failed to set the right priorities, the public auditors wrote.

Read more Subscribers only After the Louvre heist, tourists return while staff voices distress

Despite urgent issues – unions have long pointed out the Louvre's significant delays in maintenance and modernization investments – successive presidents, Jean-Luc Martinez (2013-2021) and Laurence des Cars (appointed in 2021), looked elsewhere. They focused instead on acquisitions and high-profile projects designed to attract media attention and sponsors, all while ensuring a balanced budget during a period of austerity.

However, the museum's global reputation concealed an alarming situation regarding security, according to the Court of Accounts, which devoted only five out of the report's 153 pages to these matters. Twenty years after it was initiated in 2004, the main fire safety plan still had not been completed. Camera installation in the galleries was progressing, but slowly: In 2024, 64% of the Denon wing – the museum's busiest, home to the Mona Lisa – was equipped with cameras, compared to 51% five years earlier. Coverage remains uneven: For instance, only a quarter of the Richelieu wing, which houses the decorative arts department, has cameras installed.

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