Louvre spent too much on art and not enough on security, audit finds

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The Louvre has spent too much on new artworks and not enough on security in recent years, France’s state auditor has warned, weeks after thieves stole royal jewels in a spectacular heist.

Pierre Moscovici, president of the Cour des comptes, said on Thursday that from 2018 to 2024 there had been a “considerable delay” in updating “technical infrastructure and restoring” the Paris museum and in putting in place security recommendations.

“The museum privileged visible and attractive operations — in particular the acquisition of works and of museum redesigns to the detriment of the maintenance and renovation of buildings and technical infrastructure, notably safety and security,” Moscovici said.

The report was completed before the heist but noted persistent delays in renovations of the museum.

While the Louvre spent €105mn on acquiring new works from 2018 to 2024, it allocated just €3mn over that period to pay for security upgrades recommended in a different audit, out of an estimated total cost of €83mn. Full implementation of those security recommendations is now delayed until 2032, the audit noted. It also noted that just 39 per cent of rooms across the museum were equipped with at least one security camera.

“The theft of the crown jewels is, without a doubt, a deafening wake-up call: this pace is woefully inadequate, these delays are far too long,” Moscovici added.

Thieves last month broke into the Louvre using a furniture lift to access the first floor, cut into display cases and stole eight pieces including a diamond encrusted brooch that belonged to Napoleon III’s wife Empress Eugénie, as well as necklaces and diadems. The looters also attempted to steal Eugénie’s crown but dropped it as they made their escape.

The entire heist lasted less than 10 minutes. Four people have been charged in connection to the burglary but one robber believed to have masterminded the burglary remains at large — and the jewels have not yet been found.

The review is likely to place more pressure on the government and on the museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, who offered to resign in the aftermath of the heist but has been kept in place so far.

Des Cars said she welcomed the “majority” of the court’s recommendations but that it had “misunderstood” the museum’s work on security. She added that the museum had faced pressures due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Olympic Games in Paris last year.

In January, the director had called for urgent repair works to the museum’s 800-year-old building. President Emmanuel Macron has since announced a grand renovation project valued at more than €1bn, including building a new entrance and separate exhibition space to house Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

But the audit said that these new projects risked cost overruns and that the museum should prioritise investments in its building.

The court recommended getting rid of a rule that requires the museum to spend 20 per cent of its ticket sales on acquisitions. The museum had spent 60 per cent more than the culture ministry on acquisitions across the entirety of France’s public collections. Many artworks are not on display to the public.

It also called on the Louvre to ensure that it acquired art work at more reasonable prices on the art market.

Moscovici added that unlike other cultural institutions in France, the Louvre did not lack the means to renovate its building but simply needed to prioritise better.

“We can’t use the argument of austerity,” Moscovici said. “The Louvre has much more money than any other cultural institution in France.”

The court recommended using the museum’s own resources and endowment funds received through a licensing agreement with the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum in the United Arab Emirates to finance renovations.

Culture minister Rachida Dati said that she could “only agree with the court” on urgency of technical works. She pointed to the museum’s “statutory mission” to continue to acquire new works of art in enriching France’s national collections, but said a review was already under way of the policy fixing how much the museum should spend on new acquisitions.