Months after daring $9M hesit, the Louvres Apollo Gallery reopens with no jewelry on display

PARIS — The Louvre Museum’s Apollo Gallery reopened to visitors on Wednesday without any jewels on display, nine months after a daring robbery of crown ​jewels worth $102 million exposed major security failings at the world’s most-visited museum.Visitors ‌can once again examine the Apollo Gallery’s richly decorated 17th-century interior, one of the Louvre’s most celebrated historic spaces.But jewels will instead be exhibited elsewhere in the Paris museum in ​a more secure location, Louvre director Christophe Leribault said.The gallery, created under ​a young King Louis XIV, served as inspiration for the glittering ⁠Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

It was designed by architect Louis Le Vau ​and decorated by painter Charles Le Brun according to the theme of the sun, ​in honor of Louis XIV.Culture Minister Catherine Pegard hailed the gallery’s re-opening as the symbol of a new beginning for the museum after what she said had been a “trauma for the whole ​world,” and she pledged to beef up security at museums nationwide.In October, two ​men parked a movers’ lift outside the Louvre in broad daylight, rode up to the second ‌story, ⁠smashed a window, cracked open display cases with angle grinders, and then fled on the back of scooters driven by two accomplices in a heist lasting less than seven minutes.Four people suspected of direct involvement in the heist have been charged and ​placed in custody.However, ​the stolen items ⁠remain missing, except for a crown belonging to Empress Eugenie, Napoleon III’s wife, which was found damaged near the museum and ​is currently undergoing restoration.In February, Laurence des Cars, who headed ​the museum ⁠at the time of the heist, resigned after facing intense criticism over the robbery and rolling strikes over pay and conditions.Critics, including the state auditors’ office, have questioned the museum’s low ⁠spending ​on security and infrastructure maintenance while ...