The director of the Louvre in Paris on Wednesday addressed a new security breach at the museum and detailed plans underway to overhaul the facility’s security system in the wake of the theft of $102 million worth of jewelry last month.
Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre, appeared before the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly and was questioned about a new security breach that occurred at the museum last week.
Lawmakers asked the director how two Belgian influencers were able to hang a portrait of themselves on Friday in a gallery that houses Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting.
The president and director of the Louvre Museum, Laurence des Cars (center), watches as she testifies before the Cultural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly in Paris, on November 19, 2025.
Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images
Des Cars said he wanted to “put things into perspective” and said the security breach was one of a series of incidents that have plagued the 232-year-old museum over the years.
“We constantly have incidents in the Louvre galleries. Two years ago, it was activists,” des Cars, referring to environmental activists throwing soup on paintings, a tactic other museums around the world have experimented with.
He said the new security apparatus being implemented at the museum will help staff avoid such incidents in the future, including the installation of what he described as anti-intrusion systems.
Des Cars said a major security improvement will be the construction of a police station on the Louvre grounds.
$102 million worth of jewels stolen from Louvre
Louvre Museum
The director said the police station is among more than 20 “emergency measures” that will be implemented “in the coming days.”
He said security measures will also include the installation of 100 new security cameras at the Louvre, including cameras to monitor the museum’s perimeter that were severely missing during the Oct. 19 jewelry heist.
The creation of a safety coordinator position is also part of the safety push, des Cars said. He also said two galleries that were recently closed will receive a safety upgrade before reopening.
Law enforcement sources confirm to ABC News, October 23, 2025, that they are aware of a video taken by Louvre security that shows two thieves leaving the famous Paris museum in a crane mounted on a truck with jewelry stolen from the Apollo Gallery.
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Des Cars said the “shocking irony of the situation” is that the theft of the Louvre jewels occurred while many of the security improvements were being made. It said that between 2022 and 2025, 134 digital cameras were installed throughout the museum as part of a $933 million “Louvre New Renaissance” plan.
“I want to instill a genuine safety culture,” des Cars said, adding that she has been calling for safety improvements since she became museum director in 2022.
Since the Louvre robbery, several security issues have emerged, highlighting concerns about the world’s most visited museum.
Among the revelations was that a single perimeter security camera outside the Louvre was not facing the Apollo Gallery, where thieves used a truck-mounted mechanical crane to reach the gallery and power tools to break through. Earlier this month, a museum employee with knowledge of the security system revealed that the password for the museum’s video surveillance system was simply “Louvre.”
Suspects charged in Louvre case
Paris Prosecutor’s Office, Adobe
On Monday, the Louvre announced that a public gallery and several offices would temporarily close because they had become structurally fragile.
Four suspects have been arrested and charged over the October theft, but the eight pieces of the French crown jewels collection stolen from the Apollo Gallery have not been recovered, authorities said.
French investigators said the jewel theft from start to escape lasted seven minutes.
Prosecutors have not ruled out making more arrests in the case, but said investigators have not yet found any evidence implicating museum staff members in the theft.
ABC News’ Joseph Simonetti contributed to this report.
