Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The director of the Louvre in Paris, Laurence des Cars, resigned her post Tuesday, months after thieves stole more than $100 million in jewels from the museum, French President Emanuel Macron announced.
The president accepted Cars' letter of resignation, Macron's office said, and welcomed the "act of responsibility." The statement said the museum needs "calm" and strength to carry out major security and modernization projects.
Cars faced grilling by the French Senate in October after the brazen daylight heist of the jewels. A group of four thieves used a basket lift mounted to a truck to enter the museum through a second-floor balcony window and make off with historic jewelry. The loot included crowns, necklaces, tiaras and brooches worth much more than the individual value of the gems and precious metal were the thieves to melt down the pieces to sell the parts.
Among the items stolen were items once owned by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais.
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