Louvre security cameras captured heist in action despite claims from museum’s director
French investigators have uncovered security footage of the Louvre heist in action, despite earlier claims from the museum’s director that no video footage existed.
This revelation was shared during a Senate hearing on December 10th. Contrastingly, at a hearing in October, the museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, told the Senate that the security camera did not get footage of the break-in, as it was facing the wrong way.
Despite this claim, investigators from the French Ministry of Culture have found a recording from one of only two security cameras that had been in action near the point of entry for the thieves.
On October 19th, four thieves gained easy access to the first floor of the Louvre via furniture lifts. Once inside the iconic building, they proceeded to raid the collection once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte’s family and the Empress Marie Louise.
The stolen items included a necklace, a brooch, and a tiara. However, they dropped the empress’s crown as they made their escape.
During the new hearing, it was also revealed that the Louvre have a greater issue on their hands, as their control room is not equipped with enough screens to watch all of the cameras in real-time. On the day of the robbery, guards only switched to the relevant live feed eight minutes after the heist began.
Head of the investigation, Noël Corbin, told senators recently, “An agent in the control room activated the camera’s zoom function to enlarge the image. But by then it was too late, as the thieves had already left.”
Additionally, it was uncovered that police appeared on the scene only 30 seconds too late to capture the robbers, who are now in custody. This is due to a failure on the part of the museum staff, who advised authorities to target the wrong side of the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery, which is long and narrow.
On December 7th, the museum announced that it had suffered a further blow, after around 400 works were harmed when a leak was discovered in late November. The books in question included “Egyptology journals” and “scientific documentation.
