The new head of France's Louvre Museum warned Wednesday that the world's most visited museum is "at breaking point" due to aging infrastructure and mounting investment needs.
"We can say it without ambiguity, the Louvre is at breaking point,” Christophe Leribault told the French Senate's Culture Committee.
He noted that the institution was facing major structural and technical challenges, nearly four months after taking office as the museum's president-director.
On Oct. 19, a group of thieves parked a stolen truck outside the Louvre Museum, used a furniture lift to reach the first floor and broke into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms.
Within minutes, they fled on scooters with royal jewels, including an emerald and diamond necklace once given by Napoleon Bonaparte to his second wife, Austria’s Marie-Louise, and a diadem belonging to Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.
