Editor’s Note
This article has been updated to include details from a previously undisclosed security audit that identified the exact point of entry used in the Louvre heist as a critical vulnerability. The revelation raises significant questions about internal security protocols.
A previous security audit of the Louvre carried out by jeweler Van Cleef and Arpels flagged the very balcony used in the recent heist as a security vulnerability, warning it could be accessed via a freight elevator. Paris prosecutors had not previously been informed of the report. The revelation fuels suspicion of an insider leak amid a widening investigation.
News of the report follows four new arrests made on November 25 in connection with the shocking heist of $102 million worth of jewels in October.
In 2018, amid growing concerns from Paris police and luxury brands about a spike in armed robberies—including incidents near the Louvre—the museum, then under director Jean-Luc Martinez, commissioned a security audit from Van Cleef and Arpels’s security and safety division, according to a new report in Le Monde.
Martinez had previously received a concerning but broad risk assessment from the National Institute for Advanced Studies in Security and Justice and sought more specific recommendations to better protect France’s national treasures.
Van Cleef and Arpels delivered a detailed report outlining major security flaws, including two pages and three diagrams focused on the balcony above the Apollo Gallery—the same entry point used in the recent theft. One diagram explicitly circled the vulnerable window facing Quai François-Mitterrand, calling it “one of the museum’s greatest points of vulnerability.” The report described how easily the balcony could be accessed from the ground and even illustrated how a skilled team could exploit the weakness using a lift platform—just as the thieves did on October 19.
The report also revealed that surveillance cameras did not fully cover the balcony.
In a statement, the Louvre said it only discovered the Van Cleef and Arpels security audit after the October heist. Current president Laurence des Cars, who took over in 2021, said the document was not passed along during the leadership transition from former director Martinez. The audit resurfaced only after she ordered a review of all records related to the Apollo Gallery. The museum has since forwarded the audit to France’s General Inspectorate of Cultural Affairs as part of the ongoing investigation.
On Tuesday, November 25, French authorities arrested four more suspects—two men aged 38 and 39, and two women aged 31 and 40—linked to the daring October 19 heist. Among them is the final alleged member of the four-person gang that broke into the museum, reportedly detained by the anti-gang squad on Tuesday. He has prior convictions and ties to the other suspects, all from the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.
Three men and one woman have already been indicted in the case, on October 29 and November 1.
The alleged thieves used a stolen truck, extendable ladder, and freight lift to access the Apollo Gallery, executing the heist in under seven minutes. They stole eight valuable pieces, including Napoleon Bonaparte’s emerald-and-diamond necklace and a pearl-and-diamond tiara belonging to Napoleon III’s wife. Charges include organized theft and criminal conspiracy.
The jewels have not been recovered, save for one crown that was dropped by the thieves in their getaway.
Earlier this month, the Louvre implemented a new €80 million ($92 million) master plan for improved security. The announcement followed scrutiny of past audits dating back more than a decade that revealed glaring gaps in security measures, including insufficient passwords for security camera software, some as simple as “Louvre.”
