After $102mn jewel heist, water leakage damages 400 rare books in Louvre

The bad news just keeps coming for the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum.

Just weeks after four burglars took advantage of lax security – including the fact that the museum’s video surveillance system’s password was ‘Louvre’ – and escaped with jewels worth US$102 million, a water leak last month damaged nearly 400 rare books in the Egyptian antiquities department.

Last month, structural weaknesses prompted the partial closure of one of the galleries hosting Greek vases and offices.

France’s public audit body, known as the Cour des Comptes, published a report in October which said the museum’s inability to update its infrastructure was exacerbated by excessive spending on artwork.

Specialist website La Tribune de l’Art reported that around 400 rare books were affected, because of poor pipe conditions. It said the department had long sought funds to protect the collection from such risks without success.

Le Louvre’s deputy administrator, Francis Steinbock, acknowledged to BFM TV on Sunday that the problem had been known for years and that the water pipe leak took place at one of the three rooms of the library of the Egyptian antiquities department.

“We have identified between 300 and 400 works, the count is ongoing,” he said, adding that the damaged items date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are “extremely useful” but are “by no means unique”.

“No heritage artefacts have been affected by this damage,” Steinbeck told AFP and added that “at this stage, we have no irreparable and definitive losses in these collections”.