The Louvre defends itself towards criticism though it admits safety flaws | Culture | EUROtoday

A day after the French Court of Auditors questioned in a devastating report the administration of the administration of the Louvre Museum after the theft of the Crown jewels on October 19, the president of the museum, Laurence des Cars, has defended herself towards the criticism, which she considers extreme. Of course, he has admitted that the video surveillance community is one in every of “the weakest points” of the museum. He declared this to the France Info community, on the identical day that a rare board of administrators was held, convened on the request of the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, to handle the governance of the Louvre and safety issues. The artwork gallery, which is probably the most visited on the planet, “needs modernization more than ever, to become a museum of the 21st century, something that it is not today,” he admitted in an interview with the aforementioned community.

The board of administrators assembly was held in the future after the Court of Auditors printed a doc that analyzes the interval 2018-2024 and wherein it reproaches the museum for having privileged the acquisition of works (2,754 items in eight years) over the modernization and enchancment work on the amenities.

The report was closed earlier than the assault on the nineteenth, which revealed safety failures: 4 males climbed a transferring ladder in broad daylight to the balcony that results in the Apollo gallery, one of the visited and the place the Crown jewels have been situated. Armed with radials, they broke the show circumstances the place the eight items have been and left the way in which that they had entered. All in seven minutes. In these three weeks a complete of seven folks have been arrested. Four of them are in preventive detention, though the jewels, with an estimated value of 88 million euros however of incalculable asset worth, nonetheless don’t seem.

“The Court of Auditors is wrong to be so severe, because we have fulfilled our mission and we have understood the magnitude of the security problems” that the museum has, the president of the Louvre, who introduced her resignation after the assault, defined to France Info, however the French president, Emmanuel Macron, rejected it.

The interval coated by the group’s report additionally includes the previous president of the Louvre Jean-Luc Martinez. She was in cost till 2021, the 12 months wherein Laurence des Cars, the primary girl in command of the artwork gallery, arrived. It has defended itself towards criticism by insisting that the Court of Auditors “makes an assessment from an accounting point of view.” He denies any irregularity within the administration of the artwork gallery, however has mentioned that from immediately “a security plan” comes into drive, with out specifying.

The fundamental reproach made by the group is that it gave precedence throughout all these years to the acquisition of works and different “operations with the objective of attracting visitors.” The Louvre receives about eight million folks yearly (8.7 million in 2024), 300,000 a day.

The group emphasizes that, taking into consideration the rise in public attendance, the Louvre’s video surveillance community is inadequate. Only 40% of the museum’s rooms are outfitted with cameras. Laurence des Cars argues that between 2023 and 2025, 134 extra cameras have been put in. “I don’t have the feeling of having failed, but rather of carrying out a project to transform the Louvre, because shortly after taking office I was aware of the problems,” he insisted.

The board has justified this acquisition coverage that the Court of Auditors considers extreme, since 20% of the revenue from museum tickets has been devoted to it. According to Laurence des Cars, these purchases will not be at odds with modernization work and he has argued that the acquisition of some works was one of many priorities, because it means enriching the nationwide heritage.

He alleges that some items have been financed due to donations or contributions from corporations reminiscent of LVMH, which contributed greater than 15 million euros for one of many newest acquisitions, a piece by Jean Siméon Chardin.

Nobody imagined an assault just like the one on October 19. Between 2018 and 20245, the Louvre solely mobilized 27 million euros of its price range for upkeep work on the amenities and 60 million for restoration work. This contrasts with the 105.4 million dedicated for the acquisition of works.