The Louvre Museum in Paris reopened to visitors after being closed for several days following a daring jewel heist early Sunday. Only the Apollo Gallery, the site of the theft and the subject of an ongoing police investigation, remained closed.<\/p>\n
The reopening came just hours before the museum director faced questions from French senators about how thieves obtained jewels of considerable historical significance, worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million). The heist renewed scrutiny of security measures at French museums after two similar thefts at other locations in September, and exposed years of deficiencies and neglect in security measures at the world’s most visited museum.<\/p>\n
According to government spokeswoman, President Emmanuel Macron ordered an \u201cacceleration\u201d of security measures at the Louvre during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told French media on Wednesday that the investigation was "progressing" and that more than 100 investigators had been mobilized. \u201cI have every confidence that we will find the perpetrators,\u201d Nunez said.<\/p>\n
The thieves stole eight pieces, including an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave to his wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diamond tiara that once belonged to Empress Eug\u00e9nie. The thieves, believed to be an organized crime group, dropped a diamond-encrusted crown as they exited the room using the ladder they had used to gain access to an exterior window of the Apollo Gallery.<\/p>\n
Paris prosecutor said on Tuesday the financial loss was "extraordinary" but that the greater damage was to France’s historical heritage. The director of the Louvre prepared to appear before the Senate culture committee later that afternoon, as visitors lined up outside the famous glass pyramid on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The robbery came just months after a staff strike at the facility and amid promises of a major renovation, with staff warning of staffing and security deficiencies amid a sharp increase in visitors. The director confirmed several of the security failings reported since the robbery, not least in relation to what she said was "highly inadequate" surveillance by CCTV cameras.<\/p>\n
The director reported to the committee about a plan to install \u201cvideo surveillance on all facades\u201d and \u201cpermanently installed thermal imaging cameras.\u201d She also said she offered to resign shortly after the robbery but was asked to remain in her post. The Louvre itself has been a rarer target for criminals in France, apart from perhaps the most famous art theft of all, more than a century ago. A former Louvre employee stole the Mona Lisa from the gallery in 1911, which helped give the painting its current fame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the Incident The Louvre Museum in Paris reopened to visitors after being closed for several days following a daring jewel heist early Sunday. Only the Apollo Gallery, the site of the theft and the subject of an ongoing police investigation, remained closed. Reopening and Investigation The reopening came just hours before the museum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[16321,898,16327,16326,6193,16325,4080,3447,16322,16320,16324,16328,16323,590,1272,16235,8763,1134],"class_list":{"0":"post-26055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lifestyle","8":"tag-apollo","9":"tag-art-theft","10":"tag-closed-circuit-television","11":"tag-diamond","12":"tag-emmanuel-macron","13":"tag-eugenie-de-montijo","14":"tag-french-third-republic","15":"tag-gemstone","16":"tag-laurent-nunez","17":"tag-louvre","18":"tag-marie-louise-duchess-of-parma","19":"tag-mona-lisa","20":"tag-napoleon","21":"tag-organized-crime","22":"tag-paris","23":"tag-paris-mythology","24":"tag-theft","25":"tag-tiara"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26057,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26055\/revisions\/26057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}