Editor’s Note
This article is based on a 2018 security report commissioned by Van Cleef & Arpels for the Louvre, which identified a specific balcony as the museum’s most vulnerable point—the same entry used in the October 19th jewel theft.
PARIS – At the request of the Louvre, the renowned French jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels commissioned its experts to prepare a security assessment report in 2018. That report revealed that the most vulnerable point of the entire museum building is the balcony overlooking the Apollo Gallery, which is precisely where the jewel thieves entered on October 19.
Le Monde revealed this information after viewing the document, which apparently was not seen by the judiciary, which opened an investigation into what is being called “the heist of the century.” According to Le Monde, the document was mysteriously “forgotten” and was never consulted by investigators or the museum’s current management.
The Van Cleef & Arpels expert report not only accurately identified the Louvre’s weak point as early as 2018 but also hypothesized the danger of unknown persons entering from the outside using a freight elevator, which is exactly what happened.
According to the Louvre, the report was never “transmitted” by the previous management under the orders of Jean-Luc Martinez when Laurence des Cars assumed the presidency at the end of 2021.
The Louvre explained this in a statement.