PARIS (AP) — A delegation of French senators visited the Louvre on Tuesday and acknowledged that the museum’s safety was “not in line” with trendy requirements, calling for improved measures on the Paris landmark that was the scene of a shocking heist earlier this month.
Thieves took lower than eight minutes on Oct. 19 to steal jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) from the world’s most-visited museum. French officers described how the intruders used a basket carry to scale the Louvre’s façade, compelled open a window, opened a breach in show circumstances and fled.
Two suspects had been arrested on Sunday and are being questioned by police.
Sen. Laurent Lafon, head of the Tradition Committee on the Senate, stated “we all noticed that the security equipment is not suitable for a 21st-century museum such as the Louvre. It is our flagship, it must be exemplary, and today we cannot describe the security conditions at the Louvre as exemplary.”
Talking to reporters after visiting the Louvre with fellow senators, Lafon stated “there are many improvements to be made. Our security system does not meet nowadays’ standards.”
Lafon acknowledged there was a “weakness” relating to out of doors cameras that allowed the theft, however wouldn’t enter into additional particulars for “confidentiality reasons.”
The senators known as for a speedy begin of large renovation work that was already deliberate — as quickly as attainable, since France’s funds for 2026 is at the moment being debated within the parliament.
The last decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan, which incorporates safety enhancements, was launched earlier this 12 months. It’s estimated it might price as much as 800 million euros ($933 million) to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and provides the famed Mona Lisa a devoted gallery by 2031.
