Louvre director to appear before French lawmakers amid ongoing investigation into priceless jewels theft

[ad_1] LONDON -- The president and director of the Louvre Museum in Paris has been summoned to look earlier than French lawmakers amid the continued investigation into the brazen heist of priceless jewellery over the weekend.

Laurence des Automobiles has been summoned to look earlier than France’s Senate Tradition Committee on Wednesday to a solution questions relating to the museum's safety and what might have went flawed on Sunday when 9 "priceless" items have been swiped from the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery.

A nationwide manhunt for the thieves has been in excessive gear for the reason that theft on Sunday as French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that authorities would catch these liable for the "assault on a heritage that we cherish as a result of it's our historical past."

The thieves went immediately to 2 shows, breaking them and taking a "vital quantity of loot," French Tradition Minister Rachida Dati informed ABC Information.

"They knew precisely the place they have been going," Dati mentioned. "It appears to be like like one thing very organized and really skilled."

Among the many jewellery taken within the brazen daytime heist was a pearl and diamond tiara from the gathering of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense, based on the Louvre.

On whether or not she believes the jewels are gone for good, Dati mentioned she has "confidence within the investigators."

"They're the very best staff ever for this investigation, so I'm fairly assured," she mentioned. "Some leads have been discovered, so the vital factor just isn't losing time, particularly in any such case."

Dati mentioned the proof collected to date factors to "organized crime," however added that investigators haven't dominated out that the heist may have been an inside job.

A safety worker with a canine stands close to the glass Pyramid of the Louvre Museum because the museum stays closed the day after a spectacular jewel heist by thieves who broke into the landmark by utilizing a crane and smashing an upstairs window, stealing priceless jewellery from an space that homes the French crown jewels earlier than escaping on motorbikes, in Paris, France, October 20, 2025.

Benoit Tessier/Reuters

Dati mentioned that as a part of the beefed-up safety for the Louvre, she is asking {that a} police station be positioned throughout the museum, reasonably than having solely museum safety on web site.

Requested by ABC Information whether or not she is assured that priceless artworks and artifacts on show on the Louvre, together with Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," are protected, Dati mentioned, "It is all being checked out."

"What you have to keep in mind about France is that our buildings are historic monuments," Dati mentioned. "So, it's extra advanced to safe them."

A report set to be printed within the coming weeks by Cour des Comptes, the supreme auditing establishment in France, discovered a major delay within the "deployment of kit meant to make sure safety" of the works throughout the Louvre from 2019 by 2024.

The report, a portion of which was obtained by ABC Information, discovered that some rooms on the Louvre should not fully protected by a video surveillance system, together with the Sully Wing, which is simply 40% coated by safety cameras, and the Richelieu Wing, which is simply 25% coated by cameras. The stolen Napoleon jewels have been housed within the Gallery of Apollo, which isn't situated in both of these wings.

The report additionally discovered that whereas preliminary research have been carried out lately about find out how to bolster safety on the Louvre, "operational implementation seems uneven and customarily very restricted."