The head of the Louvre, Laurence de Carre, is stepping down four months after a major heist in which 19th-century royal jewels worth 88 million euros were stolen. French President Emmanuel Macron accepted her resignation on Tuesday, calling it a necessary step to restore security and modernize the institution, the Financial Times reported on February 25.
An official report by state auditors, published after the crime, revealed a critical imbalance in the institution’s financial priorities. Between 2018 and 2024, the Louvre spent 105 million euros on acquiring new works of art, while allocating only 3 million euros to modernizing security systems.
According to the audit, a full upgrade of the security system requires an investment of 83 million euros. Still, the full implementation of these recommendations has been postponed until 2032. Currently, only 39% of the museum’s halls are equipped with at least one video surveillance camera.
Laurence de Carre will be succeeded by Christophe Leribeau, who previously headed the Palace of Versailles and managed the Petit Palais in Paris and the Musée d’Orsay.