Laurence des Cars left her position as director of the Louvre four months after the heist of the famous museum. The Élysée Palace stated that the Louvre needs calm and powerful impulses to implement important projects.
Laurence des Cars, the director of the Paris Louvre, resigned four months after the high-profile heist of the world-famous museum, writes DW. The Élysée Palace announced on Tuesday, February 24, that French President Emmanuel Macron accepted her resignation. "The largest museum in the world now needs calm and new powerful impulses to implement important projects in the areas of security and modernization," the statement said.
The director's resignation followed less than a week after the presentation of a report by the parliamentary investigative committee on the "heist of the century," which took place on October 19 of last year. The report found the Louvre's management partially responsible for the notorious theft of royal regalia. "There is a list of omissions that in other countries and institutions would have long led to resignations," said committee head Alexandre Portier, apparently referring to des Cars.
Heist of the Century
The museum director, who faced criticism from many sides, offered to resign the day after the heist, but then French Culture Minister Rachida Dati rejected her proposal. Now Macron has accepted the resignation.
In October, four men stole part of the French royal regalia from the Louvre, valued at 88 million euros - the irreplaceable historical value of the exhibits is even higher. The stolen items have not yet been found.
Since the heist, the museum has repeatedly made negative headlines - particularly due to several flooding incidents, strikes, and suspicions of large-scale ticket fraud amounting to 10 million euros.
