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.
The United States has announced a ban on a range of Canadian products, including alcoholic beverages, dairy goods and motorcycles, as retaliatory C...
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overn...
Tehran’s standoff with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has entered a new height after Iran’s mission in Vienna slammed a ...
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly launched two ballistic missile attacks against a U.S. Navy warship over the past two days.
A TV channel was struck during a live broadcast on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least three people, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Meanwhile, drones hit civilian infrastructure in Russia's southwestern Saratov region.
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Indonesia has reopened Jakarta's main airport and four others after volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau forced widespread flight cancellations, though fresh eruptions have kept authorities on alert.
The 83rd Venice Film Festival has opened on the Lido, bringing Hollywood stars and leading filmmakers together for a programme dominated by war, political violence, grief, power and the pressures shaping the modern world.
Britain's King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham visited the exhibition housing the historic Bayeux Tapestry on Wednesday (2 September), which depicts the conquest of England by the monarch's ancestor William I in 1066.
Country music legend Dolly Parton, whose songs, unmistakable style and warmth made her one of America’s most enduring entertainers, has died aged 80, her family said on Tuesday.
Kanye West’s first solo concert in Central Asia delivered an estimated five billion tenge ($11 million) tourism boost to Almaty, drawing 31,000 spectators from more than 50 countries.
American actress Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles in TV shows such as Nashville and Heroes, has died at the age of 36, ABC News reported on Sunday, citing her representative.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment