Louvre Speeds Up Security Upgrades After Heist
The Louvre Museum is gearing up for a security upgrade after a high-profile jewel heist last month.
On 19 November, Louvre director Laurence des Cars told the Committee of Cultural Affairs of the National Assembly that around 100 new surveillance cameras will be up and running at the museum by the end of 2026, and the installation of anti-intrusion systems will begin in the next two weeks.
Des Cars said the systems will help prevent intruders from getting close to the museum buildings, while the surveillance cameras will provide more awareness of the museum’s surroundings, the Associated Press reported. The jewel thieves used surveillance gaps on the museum’s exterior to park a truck close enough to position a basket lift that could reach the Apollo Gallery, where precious historical jewels were displayed.
The thieves used disc cutters meant for concrete to cut through the jewel display cases, des Cars said, which was “a method that had not been imagined at all” when the cases were replaced in 2019. At the time, they had been a designed primarily to counter an attack from inside the museum, presuming that attackers would rely on weapons.
Footage from interior cameras in the museum showed that the display cases “help up remarkably well and did not break apart” during the robbery, des Cars said. “Videos show how difficult it was for the thieves.”
The new technology is part of more than 20 emergency measures that will be implemented at the Louvre after the attack. The measures include the creation of a new “security coordinator” position, and the job was posted this month.
French authorities continue to search for the thieves responsible for Sunday’s Louvre heist as the museum security community reckons with the aftermath of a simple, yet stunningly effective, breach of security. https://t.co/r16Yg60sZU
— Security Management (@SecMgmtMag) October 24, 2025
The security improvements are part of the decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan launched earlier this year. The plan will renovate a variety of Louvre infrastructure, but the security measures were fast-tracked after the heist.
A court of auditors had urged the Louvre to speed up its security modernization in a report conducted before the 19 October theft. The report—which was released in early November—said that the museum’s investments between 2018 and 2024 focused on buying new pieces of art and improving the visitor experience “at the expense of the maintenance and renovation of buildings and technical installations, particularly safety and security systems.”
Under the original renaissance plan, technical work to modernize security equipment was meant to start next year and be fully implemented by 2032. That timeline has been significantly shortened for these core security changes.
