The Louvre Museum is now facing the full consequences of its security shortcomings after the dramatic theft of seven high-value pieces of jewelry, including a diadem from the sets of Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, an emerald necklace from the Marie-Louise collection and a large bow brooch that belonged to Empress Eugénie, known as the Crown Jewels, on October 19, 2025. Several audits, including a 2019 review by Van Cleef & Arpels, revealed by Le Monde, had previously highlighted serious vulnerabilities that threatened both the museum’s premises and its collections. Yet, according to information obtained by Le Monde, the Paris Police Prefecture had also warned the Louvre of the risks it faced. This time, however, the report, which the museum had ordered, was delivered to the Louvre’s management on August 29, 2025 – just six weeks before the burglars conducted their heist.

The document, which was prepared by the Paris Police Prefecture’s operational situational prevention unit and marked “confidential,” described “all of the resources dedicated to security as outdated and unsuitable for the site.” In it, experts expressed shock at “the obsolete furniture and IT equipment made available to staff in the central control room and the zone control rooms.” There were not enough screens to monitor the number of cameras, which were managed by software that was incompatible with both digital and analog feeds. Although the central control room was reportedly better equipped, the report said it “appears undersized to handle a major crisis that would require centralizing all of the equipment.”

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