Louvre woes continue after pipe burst damages hundreds of rare books – National

A water leak damaged several hundred publications stored in the Louvre‘s Egyptian antiquities library, mere weeks after a brazen daylight heist humiliated officials at the world’s most-visited museum.

The leak, which occurred on Nov. 26, damaged works including revues and documents from the 19th and 20th century, the museum told France 24 on Dec. 7. It was caused by the opening of a valve in a network of water pipes that are due to be replaced next year.

The museum’s deputy administrator Francis Steinbock described the damaged works as “Egyptology journals” and “scientific documentation” used by researchers.

“No heritage artifacts have been affected by this damage,” he said, adding that “at this stage, we have no irreparable and definitive losses in these collections.”

The museum administrator said the “completely obsolete” water system has been shut down and is due to be replaced in September 2026.

The Louvre said there would be an internal investigation into the leak.

Steinbock said that the works will be “dried, sent to a bookbinder to be restored and then returned to the shelves.”

The incident follows the October heist when thieves, in the span of eight minutes, made off with previous items valued at more than $100 million. After the heist, Paris prosecutors arrested four men they said they believed to be part of the robbery team.

In late November, two men and two women were taken into custody. They are from the Paris region and range in age from 31 to 40, said the prosecutor Laure Beccuau, whose office is heading the investigation.

French media report that one of those arrested, a 39-year-old already known to police, is believed to be the fourth member of the team thought to have carried out the daring robbery. The suspect is from Aubervilliers, a suburb north of Paris other suspects have connections with.

The other three alleged members of the so-called “commando” team have been previously arrested and face preliminary charges of theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy. Their DNA has been found on the scene or on items linked to the robbery.

The museum director subsequently acknowledged a “terrible failure” in security. The thieves forced their way into the museum using a cherry picker to reach one of the building’s windows, angle grinders to cut into jewelry display cases and motorbikes to make their escape.

The loot still hasn’t been recovered. It includes a diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels tied to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.

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On Monday, workers at the Louvre voted for strikes to protest their work conditions, a ticket-price hike for non-European visitors and security weaknesses highlighted by the October theft. The strike is scheduled to start Dec. 15.

In a letter to Culture Minister Rachida Dati announcing the strike action and seen by The Associated Press,  the CGT, CFDT and Sud unions asserted that “visiting the Louvre has become a real obstacle course” for the millions of people who come to admire its huge collections of art and artifacts.

The museum is in “crisis,” with insufficient resources and “increasingly deteriorated working conditions,” the unions wrote, also saying the “theft of 19 October 2025 highlighted shortcomings in priorities that had long been reported.”

Last month, the Louvre also announced the temporary closure of some employees’ offices and one public gallery because of weakened floor beams.

In their strike notice, the unions said that antiquated facilities and insufficient staffing are impacting the visitor experience, forcing the closure of some displays. They demanded that resources be focused on building improvements and safeguarding the museum, its collections, visitors and employees.

The union is also asking for 200 new jobs to be created for security and visitor services “the equivalent of what we lost between 2014 and today,” CGT union representative Christian Galani told France 24.

In a statement posted on LinkedIn, the French Democratic Confederation of Labor said that the leak is the latest incident that shows one more sign that the museum has been “deteriorating for too long.”

“Fragile infrastructure, lack of strategic visibility on the work, degraded working conditions: the protection of the collections as well as the safety of agents and visitors remain insufficiently guaranteed. In addition, there is a clear deterioration in social dialogue, which prevents the anticipation of risks and the construction of solutions with the teams,” the statement added.

—With files from The Associated Press

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