Editor’s Note
This report details a stunning institutional failure, revealing that precise warnings about the Louvre’s security vulnerabilities were ignored for years before the historic 2023 jewel heist.
The spectacular theft of eight French Crown Jewels from the Louvre Museum on October 19, valued at approximately 100 million dollars, has escalated into a scandal of institutional negligence. The French press has revealed that the museum was warned with chilling precision four years prior about the exact access point and method the thieves would use. According to a security audit conducted in 2018 by the high jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels, the museum was already aware of the extreme vulnerability of the balcony overlooking the Apollo Gallery.
The newspaper Le Monde reported that the 2018 document identified the window facing the Quai François-Mitterrand as “one of the establishment’s greatest vulnerabilities.” Most critically, to illustrate their concerns, the Van Cleef & Arpels experts “even mention, in a visual document, the hypothesis of criminals using a lifting basket (service elevator) to access the railing.”
The report also noted that nearby surveillance cameras did not fully cover this critical access point.
In the face of the magnitude of the error, the current leadership of the famous museum, led by Laurence des Cars since 2021, has distanced itself. Although they made no comments to the press, they assured Le Monde that they only became aware of the existence of this report after the robbery. The official excuse is that the documents, commissioned by the previous team, “were not communicated” during the handover of positions.
While the eight invaluable Crown pieces remain missing, the investigation progresses. The Prosecutor’s Office reported that, as part of the inquiry, two men and two women have been detained, adding to the four people who had already been charged in this case, which has exposed the fragility of security at France’s premier museum.