Khaberni - After remaining silent since Sunday, the president of the Louvre Museum, Laurence Des Cars, appears today, Wednesday, before the French parliamentarians to explain how thieves succeeded in stealing historic jewels belonging to the royal crown from one of the world’s most famous museums.
After three days of closure, including its regular closure day on Tuesday, the Louvre reopened its doors to visitors on Wednesday morning at nine o'clock (seven GMT).
Fanny, who came with her daughter from Montpellier in southern France, said, "We were very hopeful it would be open. We had booked our visit for today, and it would not have been possible for us to return."
The investigation continues in search of the four thieves who carried out the burglary in the Apollo gallery and laid their hands on a precious loot of jewels from the French heritage, causing astonishment in France and around the world, and sparking a political and media storm about the protective measures of artistic and archaeological pieces in the Louvre.
President Emmanuel Macron announced today, during a cabinet meeting, that "measures are being deployed to ensure the security of the Louvre" and that he has asked for them to be "accelerated", as announced by the government spokesperson, Maud Bregeon, to the press.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez stated on "C News" network and "Europe 1" radio that the investigation "is progressing" and noted that "more than a hundred investigators" are mobilized.
He added: "I have full confidence... that we will find the perpetrators" of the theft.
After initially stating that the stolen jewels were priceless, the museum administration announced that their value amounts to "88 million euros", a figure that does not take into account their heritage value.
This theft marks the largest art theft in recent decades, although the value is much lower than that of the stolen items during the burglary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990, when the price of the looted works was estimated at just under half a billion dollars.
After receiving criticism and inquiries since Sunday, the spotlight on Wednesday is on the museum president and its director as she gives her statement after refraining from making any public remark since the theft.
She will be heard at 16:30 (14:30 GMT) before the Culture Committee in the Senate, at a moment of truth for the official who became in May 2021 the first woman to head the Louvre, the museum that attracts the largest attendance in the world, and welcomed nine million visitors in 2024, 80% of them foreigners.
The conservative newspaper "Le Figaro" reported that Des Cars had tendered her resignation after the theft, but it was rejected and she received support from President Emmanuel Macron.
The museum did not wish to comment on this information in response to questions from "Agence France-Presse".
Des Cars will be questioned about the security measures in the Apollo gallery which houses 800 pieces of jewels from the Imperial Crown.
The doors of the gallery remained closed on Wednesday and three gray boards were erected in front of them.
"No loopholes"
Among the eight stolen items is the tiara of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of France from 1852 to 1871, studded with about two thousand diamonds, and a sapphire necklace of Empress Marie Amélie, wife of Louis Philippe I, king of France from 1830 to 1848.
Rachida Dati, before the deputies, dismissed any "security breach within" the museum, asserting that the measures "served their function," while noting the absence of security measures "on the street," which allowed the thieves to bring in a crane used to enter through one of the windows.
Dati, the right-wing candidate for the mayor of Paris in the upcoming elections in March, admitted that "the security of the artworks was underestimated for a very long time", adding that "priority was rather given to public safety."
In a draft report reviewed by "Agence France-Presse" on Monday, the Court of Auditors charged with supervising the use of public funds, criticized the "delay in deploying equipment aimed at ensuring the protection of artifacts" in the museum.
Laurence Des Cars is a specialist in art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a long experience in museums having previously headed the Orsay Museum in Paris, and the Orangerie Museum of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, and among the exhibited works there is the massive painting "Nymphéas" by the painter Monet.
