Three days after the robbery, the Louvre was reopened to the public on 22 October, when the Louvre director acknowledged the lack of security, while French President Macron called for accelerated deployment of security measures.

Louvre director admits security flaws

Louvre museum director Laurence de Carle admitted on the 22nd that the Louvre security system has weak outdoors, long-term insufficient investment and upgrade delays, and proposed preliminary corrective measures.

De Carle, who attended the French Senate hearing on the Louvre robbery on the same day, spoke publicly for the first time about the incident. In her statement, she said that when the robbery occurred, the internal alarm and surveillance of the museum worked normally, and there were four unarmed guards in the Apollo Corridor at the scene, who responded professionally to ensure no casualties.

DeCar acknowledged that the museum failed to notice the arrival of the robbers in advance. surrounding protection is the Louvre security "weak link", surveillance cameras on the exterior walls of the building long-standing equipment aging, serious lack of numbers, cannot cover all faces including the side of the Apollo corridor.

De Carle said that since her appointment in 2021, she has observed ¡°the Louvre¡¯s long-term insufficient investments in equipment and infrastructure¡± and stressed the current problem is that ¡°security systems are adapted to new attacks and ways of acting.¡± Over the past few years, the museum has focused mainly on the damage that environmental activists can cause by acting aggressively on climate change issues, such as splashing paint to paintings. Today, the target of the case has shifted to precious artifacts, metals and gemstones, and the approach is similar to organized crime.

In response to these shortcomings, De Carle proposed a number of improvement initiatives. In the short term, she hoped to immediately strengthen the protection around the Louvre, such as the installation of isolation devices to prevent vehicles from stopping. Long-term plans included doubling and upgrading the number of monitors in the district, and applying to the French Ministry of Internal Affairs to set up a police station in the district.

Decar confirmed that she resigned from the French Minister of Culture after the incident, but was rejected.

The investigation is ongoing and four perpetrators are still at large

French government spokesman Maud Brejon said at a press conference on the 22nd that both administrative and judicial investigations into the case are underway. Brejong said that at a cabinet meeting held on the 22nd, Macron said that security measures were being deployed for the Louvre and requested that these measures be "accelerated."

Xinhua news agency reporter on the scene saw that a large number of tourists were in line to enter the Louvre, not far away some journalists were reporting on this.

According to French media reports, the Apollo Walk, where the robberies occurred, is still closed.

Prosecutors in Paris said on the 21st that the economic losses caused by the robbery of the Louvre Museum are estimated to reach 88 million euros. French media quoted prosecutors as saying that about a hundred investigators were chasing the four perpetrators who were at large.

According to the Paris prosecutor's news, at around 9: 30 on the 19th, four masked men came outside the Louvre, divided their labor and cooperated to operate the lifting device, sneaked into the room from the external balcony of the building, snatched the displayed jewelry, and threatened the museum security with an angle grinder. Within minutes, nine pieces of jewelry were robbed, and one of the crowns belonging to Queen Eugenie has been found by the police. The Louvre was temporarily closed on the 19th. On the 20th, the museum closed shortly after announcing the opening of some exhibition halls. On the 22nd, the museum reopened to the public.

The stolen property is not insured and the likelihood of recovery is low.

The French Ministry of Culture said on the 21st that the robbed cultural relics in the Louvre Museum did not purchase insurance due to relevant laws and regulations and insurance costs. This means that if the cultural relics cannot be recovered, the French government and the Louvre Museum cannot get insurance compensation.

A spokesman for the French Ministry of Culture said in a statement to the French newspaper The Parisien: ¡°As long as the collections of the National Museum are still stored in the usual location, the state is its insurer.¡±

Colombia Broadcasting Corporation quoted a French art insurance expert as saying that French law stipulates that national museums are not allowed to purchase commercial insurance for their collections unless the collections leave the museum or lend them to other institutions. As a national-level museum, the Louvre Museum's collections are national property, and the country independently bears all risks of loss, theft and damage to the collections. Therefore, the French government and the Louvre Museum cannot seek insurance compensation for this theft of cultural relics.

According to the British "Daily Telegraph" report, the collections of more than 60 national museums across France are not insured, because many of the collections are "priceless treasures" and it is almost impossible for insurance companies to value them.

According to several media analysts, criminals are very likely to dismantle the stolen artifacts and sell them secretly on the black market. A European jewelry businessman believes that the chances of recovering the stolen artifacts are low, ¡°if they are sold separately, they will disappear forever from history.¡±