Image source, Reuters

The director of the Louvre Museum in Paris spoke publicly for the first time today after jewellery worth €88m (£76m; $102m) was stolen in an audacious heist in broad daylight.

Over a two-hour hearing in front of the French Senate, she faced a range of questions, which yielded a series of revelations about the parlous state of the museum's security infrastructure.

Here's a look back at the key lines:

• Admission of failure: Des Cars said the museum failed to spot the thieves early enough to stop the robbery. "The weakness of our perimeter protection is known," she said
• Aging infrastructure: She told lawmakers that the CCTV around the Louvre's perimeter was weak and "aging", and pointed to "chronic under investment in equipment and infrastructure"
• 'Whistle-blower': The museum chief said she had warned "how obsolete" the equipment was when she took over in 2021, characterising herself as a "whistle-blower"
• Sole camera pointing wrong way: The only camera monitoring the Gallery of Apollo, where the jewellery was displayed, was pointing away from a balcony the thieves climbed over to break in, she said
• Timeline for refurbishment: Des Cars said she hoped that work to improve security would begin at the start of 2026 - it'll likely be a challenge given the outdated infrastructure, however

• Resignation rejected: She also confirmed French media reports that she had offered to resign following the robbery but was refused
• Crown recovered, but damaged: One of the eight items stolen - a diadem that once belonged to Empress Eugenie - was recovered, but damaged, she said. An initial report suggests restoration is possible

Our live coverage is ending now. For more on the hearing, read our main news story.

Jaw-dropping revelations in two-hour hearingpublished at 18:12 BST 22 October 2025

18:12 BST 22 October 2025

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, Reuters

Some of the detail that came out in more than two hours of testimony and questions in the French Senate was simply astounding, even for those who have followed the Louvre heist story since it unfolded on Sunday.

Government ministers have given press conferences and interviews and denied security failings, but the director of the Louvre cut through that and admitted they'd been "defeated". She has given us an extraordinary view of how difficult it is to secure the world's most visited museum, and how bad the security really was.

The gang will have seen there was only one camera on the exterior wall and that it was facing the wrong way. They will have known what they needed to steal the jewels and long they had before anyone tried to stop them.

In Laurence des Cars' own words - the CCTV system outside the Louvre was "very unsatisfactory"; inside it, some areas were too old to adapt to modern security.

Despite the volume of visitors - 8.7 million last year alone - investment in security has been slow and poor, but she has highlighted the very real budget challenges facing every big museum in the world.

Two years ago, she said the Louvre's big worry was in fending off climate activists hurling soup at paintings. Now they are facing organised crime.

Image source, EPA

French senators have just wrapped up their questions for Laurence des Cars, bringing the hearing to a close.

Stay with us for a recap of the key lines and analysis from our Europe editor.

Back again to Laurence des Cars.

She's updating senators on the condition of the diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugénie.

One of the eight items of jewellery stolen, it was found damaged at the foot of the building - not by being dropped but by its extraction from the showcase, she says.

Des Cars it was retrieved yesterday from police and the first report shows a delicate restoration is possible.

"It is the object that can be saved from this catastrophe," she says.

Image source, Louvre Museum

Dominique Buffin, the Louvre security chief, addresses questions over possible future security arrangements now.

She says that arming security personnel is "not to be envisaged".

Asked whether the Louvre might bring in private armed security, she says the museum would rather opt for police reinforcements.

Back now to the ongoing senate hearing. Louvre director Laurence des Cars says the window in the Apollo Gallery - which was broken into on Sunday - was restored in 2004.

There are anti-breach features, thick windows and an electric locking system with two locking points, she adds.

She also says that until the 1980s, the jewels at the museum stored in a single showcase and locked in a tray when the museum was closed.

This old system had issues, she says, adding that a new system was then put in place.

She says following studies in 2014, two new jewellery showcases were ordered to display the articles. They were attacked by burglars but the glass was not shattered - the glass resisted, she says.

Glaring security failing - wall covered by sole camera pointing wrong waypublished at 17:29 BST 22 October 2025

17:29 BST 22 October 2025

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP

Some of the senators in this hearing have expressed their incredulity at the limited and outdated security at the Louvre.

Why was there just one camera on the external wall facing the river, and why was it pointing the wrong way?

That single failure meant that the lorry carrying the gang and their mechanical ladder was not spotted at all as it arrived at the foot of the Gallery of Apollo.

"There is a weakness at the Louvre and I acknowledge it completely," Laurence des Cars told the senators. "We have a weakness in our perimeter coverage."

Before she took up her post in 2021, she even says no decision had been taken to install any external cameras.

Nobody expects or wants museum guards to be armed, but if a camera had picked up the gang that attacked the Louvre before their ladder had been raised to the balcony on the ground floor, perhaps police might have arrived in the minutes it took them to break in.

French senators are continuing to put their questions to Louvre director Laurence des Cars, after jewellery worth €88m (£76m; $102m) was stolen in a brazen daylight robbery on Sunday.

In the last few moments, she's been asked whether there was a chance that some jewels could be retrieved, what the security measures were around the windows, and if security guards at the museum should be armed.

Stay with us for continued coverage of the hearing, which you can watch live with an English translation above.

Many will feel sympathetic to des Cars' impassioned defencepublished at 17:13 BST 22 October 2025

17:13 BST 22 October 2025

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, Reuters

Laurence des Cars became animated, even indignant, as she defended herself from media allegations that she prioritised her own comfort ahead of protecting the Louvre and its historic collections.

She speaks of being hurt by accusations of splashing the cash.

The museum chief said she took responsibility and tendered her resignation and felt the level of attacks on her was unfair.

"I made the security masterplans the priority of my term in office," she insisted, describing her shock at seeing the state of the museum's security when she started.

Her defence was that she was just a civil servant doing her duty.

Many in France will feel sympathetic to her impassioned defence. But unlike her predecessors, Laurence des Cars was the Louvre director who was in charge when the museum was attacked in such a shocking and dramatic manner.

Image source, Reuters

Dominique Buffin, the Louvre security chief, is addressing the procedure for alerting the police.

She says there are two options available to the central command room:

1. A dedicated phone line to Paris police
2. Pressing a security button (Buffin says this option doesn’t give any information on the location of the issue)

She says that as the first alarm sounded on Sunday, staff in the control room located the break-in and began looking at the video feeds.

They then began to receive radio calls reporting the events and called the police station at 09:35 local time.

It wasn’t until after they hung up that they pressed the security button, she adds.

• Some context: The thieves arrived at 09:30 local time, shortly after the museum opened its doors to visitors. By 09:38, they had already made their way back out onto the pavement before they made their escape on scooters waiting outside

Des Cars is now asked why none of her predecessors raised concerns around the video surveillance of the Louvre's exterior.

In response, des Cars says she can only speak from the point of a decision taken in September 2021 to ensure a focus on technical issues around security.

She reiterates issues of security have been "an absolute priority".

Asked again if there were interventions from her predecessors, she replies: "I can only observe, like you do, that those decisions had not been taken."

Des Cars says she's spoken about the issue of security repeatedly in the past.

"I am wounded as chair and director that the warnings I was raising - as a whistle-blower, in a sense - have come to pass last Sunday," she says.

"We've had a terrible failure at the Louvre. I've taken responsibility for it," she adds.

Image source, Reuters

Back now to Louvre director Laurence Des Cars, who is detailing the kinds of incidents that the Louvre had made preparations for in recent years.

These include attacks with firearms, and climate activists throwing soup or paint over artworks, she says.

Des Cars says attention turned over the last few months protecting precious metals, jewellery and stones. "We are seeing a change in the type of attacks," she says.

She blames "chronic under investment in equipment and infrastructure" for weaknesses at the Louvre.

Shortly before the Louvre director confirmed that she had offered her resignation, we heard from one of her colleagues.

Francis Steinbock, managing director of the Louvre, tells the committee he was shocked when he visited the five security control rooms and the central control room.

He says there are issues with the Louvre's "entire infrastructure, digital technology tools and cameras".

"All of the hardware is at stake," he says, adding that a job for a technical project manager will be created to help deal with this.

Given last Sunday's incident, we need to focus on perimeter protection, then we'll work wing by wing at the museum, he adds.

He says the work on the biggest wing will cost €12m (£10m), and the other wings will cost between €6-9m (£5-8m).

More on that breaking line now.

One member of the senate committee says des Cars' offer to resign was "honourable", though ultimately rejected.

Who will now be held accountable and how, she's asked.

"I've never considered that we own the jobs we have... I don't want to go back to the personal attacks in the media," des Cars replies.

"All I can do is observe how information is being manipulated from a political point of view. I'm a victim of that and it's very painful," she says.

Another senate member says they hope the committee will get the chance to question Rachida Dati, France's culture minister, as many were "stupefied" by her insistence that the Louvre security did not fail

"I think the whole world is laughing," they add.

Image source, EPA

The Louvre director confirms she offered to resign but that it was rejected.

More to follow.

A picture of underfunding and outdated security at Louvrepublished at 16:26 BST 22 October 2025

16:26 BST 22 October 2025

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Listening to the litany of problems at the Louvre, which Laurence des Cars says has not really been renovated since the 1980s, it becomes clear why the world's most popular museum had become so vulnerable to attack.

Here are some of the issues she's raised so far:

• Cuts in surveillance and security staff over the past decade
• Obsolete technical equipment
• Ageing perimeter cameras that do not cover such a prominent balcony
• Decaying infrastructure that can't handle the latest generation of video equipment

Many museums and tourist destinations will recognise the challenges and failings in the Louvre.

But the fact is that des Cars has now promised improvements, which begs the question: why did she and her predecessors not prioritise these changes earlier?

Image source, EPA

Back now to the session of the French senate's culture committee.

Louvre director des Cars says the museum infrastructure is "aging" and that modern equipment cannot be simply added.

Des Cars says she was warned about "how obsolete" the equipment at the Louvre was when she took the job, in contrast to the modern equipment of the Musee d'Orsay, where she worked previously.

She adds that she hopes work will begin at the start of 2026.

Is anyone to blame for Louvre security debacle?published at 16:20 BST 22 October 2025

16:20 BST 22 October 2025

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Obviously, the answer is yes. Quite simply France's crown jewels should not be stolen from the nation's most storied museum half an hour after opening time on a Sunday.

And yet, there has been a curious refusal to admit failings, unless you count Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin's admission that "what is certain is that we have failed".

But the people most directly responsible - and they don't include Darmanin - have been more reticent about failings.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has admitted there was a failure, although he asserted: "The alarm system worked perfectly, as soon as the window was attacked, it was activated.

"Police were notified, and within three minutes they were on the scene. The whole system worked, it didn't fail, but what happened has happened."

Culture Minister Rachida Dati says the same: "Were the security measures at the Louvre Museum faulty? No, they were not."

The French public will be looking for more concrete explanations than that.

Asked if all the alarms and video system were functioning properly, des Cars says the video system did.

Asked if they worked outside, she replies: "We did not spot the arrival of the thieves early enough... the weakness of our perimeter protection is known."

She says there are security perimeter cameras but they are aging and do not cover all the external walls of the Louvre.

The only camera over the Apollo Gallery was facing westwards and didn't cover the balcony where the break in took place.