French minister gives Louvre security update following crown jewel heist

After facing pressure following the crown jewel heist at the Louvre, French Culture Minister Rachida Dati announced that street-side anti-ramming and anti-intrusion devices will be installed within the next two months.

Dati’s announcement on Friday comes after a provisional investigation found the Paris landmark had “chronic, structural underestimation” of theft risk.

The minister refused the resignation of the museum director and has said that alarms worked during the robbery, but acknowledged “security gaps,” and cited four failings: underestimated risk, underequipped security, ill-suited governance and “obsolete” protocols.

“On public roads, anti-ramming and anti-intrusion devices will be installed before the end of the year,” she told the TF1 broadcaster on Friday.

The thieves used a truck-mounted basket lift to reach a window of the Apollo Gallery and fled with eight crown jewel pieces within minutes.

At 9:30 a.m. on the day of the robbery, the basket lift rose to the Apollo Gallery window; at 9:34 the glass gave way; by 9:38 the crew was gone — a four-minute strike. Only the “near-simultaneous” arrival of police and museum security stopped the thieves from torching the lift and preserved crucial traces, the prosecutor said.

Security footage shows at least four men forcing a window, cutting into two display cases with power tools and fleeing on two scooters toward eastern Paris. Investigators say there is no sign of insider help for now, though they are not ruling out a wider network beyond the four on camera.

Scrutiny by the French Senate this week investigated surveillance gaps and accountability, with some lawmakers and unions questioning whether the minister’s measures amount to gestures rather than durable reform.

Louvre director Laurence des Cars has already said that the museum needs physical barriers to stop vehicles from parking close to vulnerable windows.

Only one relic has surfaced so far — Eugénie’s crown, damaged but salvageable, dropped in the escape.

At least seven have been arrested in connection with the heist.