Louvre director acknowledges terrible failure after jewel heist and offers to resign

The Louvre’s director on Wednesday acknowledged a “terrible failure” at the Paris tourist attraction after a daylight crown jewel heist over the weekend, and said that she offered to resign but it was refused.The world’s most-visited museum reopened earlier in the day to long lines beneath its landmark glass pyramid for the first time since one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with its audacity and scale.In testimony to the French Senate, Louvre director Laurence des Cars said that the museum had a shortage of security cameras outside the monument and other ″weaknesses″ exposed by Sunday’s theft.Under heavy pressure over a heist that stained France’s global image, she testified to a Senate committee that she submitted her resignation, but that the culture minister refused to accept it.“Today we are experiencing a terrible failure at the Louvre, which I take my share of responsibility in,” she said.The thieves slipped in and out, making off with eight pieces from France’s Crown Jewels — a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.The theft — steps away from the “Mona Lisa” and valued at more than $100 million — has put embattled President Emmanuel Macron, Culture Minister Rachida Dati, des Cars, and others under new scrutiny.It comes just months after employees went on strike, warning of chronic understaffing and not enough resources for protection, with too few eyes on too many rooms.“We did not detect the arrival of the thieves soon enough,” des Cars said.She said that the museum’s alarms had worked properly, but that it currently doesn’t have full video surveillance of the perimeter outside the museum, though there is a plan to provide full coverage of all the Louvre’s facades.She also suggested barriers to prevent vehicles from parking directly alongside the museum’s buildings, and said that she would push for a police station inside the...