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Following last month’s audacious theft of crown jewels, the Louvre Museum’s director has announced plans to enhance security at the iconic Parisian institution. Laurence des Cars revealed on Wednesday that a series of new surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems are set to be installed to bolster defenses against future breaches.
The comprehensive upgrade will see approximately 100 surveillance cameras operational by the end of next year. Meanwhile, the installation of anti-intrusion systems is set to commence within the next fortnight. Although specific details were not disclosed, des Cars noted that these systems are designed to deter unauthorized access, aiming to ensure the complete protection of the museum’s perimeter.
“After the shock and emotion of the incident, and having conducted a thorough assessment, it’s time to take decisive action,” des Cars stated to the Committee of Cultural Affairs at the National Assembly. Her comments underscore the urgency and determination to safeguard the world’s most frequented museum.
This security overhaul is part of a broader plan comprising over 20 emergency measures. Among these initiatives is the creation of a new “security coordinator” role, which has already been advertised this month. This position will play a pivotal role in overseeing the enhanced security framework, ensuring that the Louvre remains a safe haven for its priceless treasures and the millions of visitors it welcomes each year.
She said it was all 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, and the job has been posted this month, she added.
On the day of the heist, it took thieves less than 8 minutes to force their way through a window into the Apollo Gallery with the help of a freight lift and steal the 88 million euros ($102 million) trove.
Des Cars unveiled some new details about the security breach that allowed the Oct. 19 robbery, saying the power tools used by robbers to cut through the display cases were disc cutters meant for concrete.
“It’s a method that had not been imagined at all” when the display cases in the Apollo Gallery were replaced in 2019, she said. At the time, they had been designed primarily to counter an attack from inside the museum with weapons, she added.
Footage from museum cameras show that during the robbery, the display cases “held up remarkably well and did not break apart,” she said. “Videos show how difficult it was for the thieves.”
Des Cars stressed security improvement is a priority of the decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan launched earlier this year, with an estimated cost of up to 800 million euros ($933 million), to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031.
With the Louvre crumbling under the weight of mass tourism, des Cars has restricted the daily number of visitors to 30,000 in recent years.
The famed glass pyramid inaugurated in 1989 was meant to welcome about 4 millions visitors a year, she recalled. This year, already more than 8 million people visited the Louvre.
“The extensive modernization that the Louvre underwent in the 1980s is now technically obsolete, with equipment that has been overperforming for 40 years,” des Cars said.
On Monday, the Louvre announced it was temporarily closing some employee offices and one public gallery because they were structurally fragile.
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