The Louvre Museum reopened its Apollo Gallery to visitors on Wednesday, nine months after the theft of crown jewels worth $102 million exposed major security failings. The historic gallery is open again, but its jewels have been moved to a more secure location.
Visitors can once again admire the Apollo Gallery's richly decorated 17th-century interior, one of the Louvre's most celebrated historic spaces. However, the jewels will now be displayed elsewhere in the Paris museum in a more secure location, Louvre director Christophe Leribault said.
The gallery, created during the reign of the young King Louis XIV, served as the inspiration for the glittering Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
It was designed by architect Louis Le Vau and decorated by painter Charles Le Brun around the theme of the sun in honour of Louis XIV.
Culture Minister Catherine Pégard hailed the gallery's reopening as a symbol of a new beginning for the museum after what she described as a "trauma for the whole world", while pledging to strengthen security at museums nationwide.
In October, two men parked a movers' lift outside the Louvre in broad daylight and used it to reach the second floor. They smashed a window, broke open display cases with angle grinders and fled on scooters driven by two accomplices in a heist lasting less than seven minutes.
Four people suspected of direct involvement in the robbery have been charged and remanded in custody.
However, the stolen items remain missing, apart from a crown belonging to Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, which was found damaged near the museum and is currently undergoing restoration.
In February, Laurence des Cars, who led the museum at the time of the heist, resigned after facing intense criticism over the robbery, as well as strikes over pay and working conditions.
Critics, including the state auditors' office, questioned the museum's limited spending on security and infrastructure maintenance while investing heavily in new acquisitions and post-pandemic reopening projects.
They also raised concerns that only around a quarter of the museum's collection is on public display despite significant spending on expansion and renewal efforts.
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