At the time of the brazen theft of $102 million in jewelry from the Louvre last month, the password for the world-famous museum’s video surveillance system was simply “Louvre,” according to a museum employee with knowledge of the system.
The revelation comes as the museum’s security measures have come under scrutiny in the wake of the high-profile theft.
During testimony before a French Senate committee last month, Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre, said the only camera installed outside the Apollo Gallery faced west and did not cover the window where thieves used power tools to get in and out.
A soldier patrols in the courtyard of the Louvre museum, Thursday, October 30, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Emma Da Silva/AP
Additionally, Des Cars said all of the museum’s alarms worked, as did its video cameras, but he noted a “weakness” in the museum’s perimeter security “due to a lack of investment.”
French investigators said the entire robbery, from start to escape, lasted seven minutes and that the thieves used a mechanical crane mounted on a truck to leave the Apollo Gallery.
The Louvre director told French lawmakers: “The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly. The question that arises is how to adapt this system to a new type of attack and modus operandi that we could not have foreseen.”
Despite touting that the security system inside the Louvre is working properly, des Cars added: “Today we are witnessing a terrible failure at the Louvre. The security of the Louvre is one of my top priorities during my mandate, and I repeat that I was dismayed by the security situation at the museum when I arrived in 2021.”
$102 million worth of jewels stolen from Louvre
Louvre Museum
While the investigation into the October heist continues, authorities have yet to recover the museum’s missing jewelry, even though four suspects have been charged in connection with the theft.
In a Franceinfo radio interview on Sunday, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said authorities are still searching for the missing jewelry.
“All avenues are being explored,” Beccuau said.
He added that the four arrests “have given rise to new searches and the seizure of new objects that are being examined” and that “at least one person” involved in the theft remains at large.
Beccuau said the suspects in custody do not appear to be associated with organized crime, as the first two suspects Those arrested were a taxi driver, 39, and a delivery and garbage collector, 34, from the northern suburbs of Paris.
Their DNA was recovered at the crime scene and they “partially admitted their participation” in the robbery, according to Beccuau. The unemployed garbage collector was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris as he was preparing to board a flight to Algeria, according to authorities.
The other two suspects charged are a 37-year-old man and his common-law partner, 38, also from the northern regions of Paris.
The Louvre’s Apollo Gallery that housed the stolen jewels has remained closed since the robbery, according to museum website.
AABC News’ Aicha Castaño and Bill Hutchinson contributed to the report.
