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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Most of the Louvre Museum in Paris reopened to visitors on Wednesday morning, after several days closed following the daring jewel heist on the building early on Sunday.Only the Apollo Gallery, location of the theft and subject of ongoing police investigations, remained shut.The reopening came just hours before the museum's director was set to face questions from French senators on how thieves made off with jewels of considerable historical significance and an estimated value of €88 million ($102 million). The robbery renewed scrutiny of security measures at French museums, after two similar thefts in September at other sites, and unveiled years of shortfalls and neglect in security measures at the world's most visited museum. President Emmanuel Macron ordered a "speeding up" of security measures at the Louvre during a Cabinet ministers' meeting on Wednesday, according to government spokesperson Maude Bregeon.Interior minister says investigation is 'progressing'Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told French media on Wednesday that the investigations were "progressing," and that more than 100 investigators had been mobilized. "I have full confidence, that's for sure, that we will find the perpetrators," Nunez said. Whether the haul will ever be recovered, given the possibility of melting the gems down and selling them on, could prove another question entirely. The thieves made off with eight pieces, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave to his wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diamond diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie. The thieves, thought to be an organized crime group, dropped a diamond-studded crown as they left via the ladder they had used to gain access to an exterior window of the Apollo Gallery. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Tuesday that the financial loss was "extraordinary" but the greater damage was to France's historical heritage.Director Les Cars in Senate, after reported offer to resignAs visitors queued outside the landmark glass pyramid on Wednesday, Louvre Director Laurence des Cars was preparing to appear before the Senate's culture committee later in the afternoon. The heist came just months after a staff strike at the facility and amid promises of a major overhaul, with employees warning of understaffing and security shortfalls amid a sharp increase in visitor numbers.Des Cars is expected to be questioned about security at the Apollo Gallery, after the museum itself had in the past complained of slow renovations and lacking surveillance. However, the museum on Tuesday defended the quality of the display cases that were smashed in the robbery, saying they had been installed in 2019 and "represented a considerable improvement in terms of security" compared to their more than 50-year-old predecessors.French daily le Figaro has reported that des Cars — the first woman to run the Louvre, appointed in 2021 — offered her resignation in the aftermath of the heist but that it was refused. Two other robberies at French cultural sites in September have also come into sharper focus amid this higher-profile crime. The Louvre itself has been a rarer target for criminals in France, except for perhaps the most renowned art theft of all more than a century ago.A former Louvre employee stole the Mona Lisa from the gallery in 1911, with this act helping propel the painting to its modern-day level of fame. He was caught trying to sell the painting in his native Italy in 1913 and the painting was returned to the Paris facility the following year.Editor’s Choice: The Louvre Jewel Theft: Here's 5 Other Notorious Art Heists in HistoryClick here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
