PARIS, — Laurence des Cars has resigned as president and director of the Louvre, months after a spectacular theft of French crown jewels exposed major security weaknesses at the world’s most visited museum and triggered a wider crisis over management, staffing, and oversight. President Emmanuel Macron accepted her resignation this week, calling it “an act of responsibility” at a moment when the museum needs “calm” and fresh momentum for major security and modernization projects. Des Cars had faced growing pressure since the October 19, 2025 heist, when thieves stole eight pieces of historic jewelry from the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon in a raid that took less than eight minutes. The jewels, valued at about 88 million euros, roughly $102 million, have still not been recovered.
The robbery shocked France not only because of the value of the missing objects, but because of the symbolism: the stolen items were part of one of the country’s most iconic heritage collections. Investigations and later audits pointed to deeper institutional problems, including poor CCTV coverage, delayed security upgrades and broader management failings at the museum. Reuters reported that des Cars’ position became increasingly difficult as the heist was followed by labor unrest, infrastructure complaints and scrutiny over other internal problems, including a ticket-fraud scandal.
Several suspects have been arrested in connection with the case, but authorities have not recovered the jewels, leaving one of France’s most prized collections still incomplete. Macron has now appointed Christophe Leribault, the current head of the Palace of Versailles, to lead the Louvre through its next phase. Leribault, an art historian with prior experience at both Versailles and the Louvre, is expected to focus on tightening museum security, restoring staff confidence and pushing through long-delayed reforms.
His task will be immediate and politically sensitive: to restore public trust in a museum that remains one of France’s greatest cultural symbols, but which has lately come to reflect a broader debate over whether prestige was allowed to outpace protection.
