Despite our efforts and our work on security, we have been defeated, says Laurence des Cars in the French parliament.
She emphasizes that the Louvre's all alarms functioned as they should during the robbery, but acknowledges that the surveillance cameras were inadequate with "insufficient coverage".
It obviously does not cover all the facades of the Louvre, and on the side of the Apollo gallery, unfortunately, the only installed camera is directed west and therefore did not cover the balcony used during the break-in, said des Cars.
The head of the world's most famous museum says that she would like to see a police station established within the museum, writes Le Figaro.
Sunday's attack reminds us that criminal violence will not stop at our walls. The Louvre, like many other museums around the world, is not immune to the growing brutalization of society, she said.
When the consequences of Sunday's coup have sunk in, des Cars has offered Culture Minister Rachida Dati her resignation – which was however rejected, she explained to the senators in the culture committee.
It was on Sunday that the four thieves struck shortly after the museum had opened. In just a few minutes, they broke in and disappeared with, among other things, a tiara, an earring and a necklace that once belonged to Maria Amalia, the last queen of France – all to a total value of 88 million euros.
The suspected thieves are still at large.
