February 25, 2026 | 09:35 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday accepted the resignation of the Louvre Museum's director, Laurence des Cars.
She's been under fire ever since thieves stole a stash of priceless jewelry from the museum in a brazen daytime heist last year.
But the iconic museum has also been in the spotlight for a spate of negative headlines since, including suspicion of large-scale ticket fraud that had been going on for 10 years.
The museum has endured several floods that reportedly damaged a ceiling painting and books, and witnessed labor problems.
Macron's office says resignation of museum director 'act of responsibility' amid changes
Macron's office announced Des Cars's resignation in a statement and also praised the move as an "act of responsibility at a time when the world's largest museum needs calm and a strong new impetus to carry out major projects involving security upgrades, modernization" and other initiatives.
Des Cars was named director of the Louvre, one of the museum world's most prestigious jobs, in 2021.
Jewel heist that shocked the world
The world's most visited museum, with guest footfall levels of up to 9 million a year, is still reeling from the heist that took place on October 19 during broad daylight.
A group of robbers broke in through a window, equipped with power tools like a disc cutter, and stole French crown jewels worth €88 million, or around $102 million.
A crane lift mounted on a truck waited outside a window and was brought in to aid with the raid, which took place around 9:30 a.m. when the museum was still opening.
People have been arrested over the course of investigation, but the jewels, once worn by France's queens and empresses, have yet to be returned to authorities.
Louvre heist exposes security gaps
The Louvre is a historically important museum intertwined with the makings of French society itself.
The museum was a royal palace and was opened to the public during the French Revolution. It houses the Mona Lisa, the world's most famous artwork.
France's chief architect of historical monuments told the Associated Press in an interview last year that many museums, especially in Europe, are in historic buildings that were not constructed with the goal of securing art.
Des Cars acknowledged last year that the museum had a shortage of security cameras outside the monument and other weaknesses that were exposed during the weekend theft.
She had offered to resign on the day of the robbery but this was refused by Culture Minister Rachida Dati.
Read: Louvre Workers' Strike Turns Away Thousands of Visitors
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