The Louvre's Apollo gallery on Thursday reopened to the public for the first time since 88 million euros (NZ$173 million) worth of crown jewels were stolen in a dramatic daytime heist.
The public can tour the majestic room and view its gilded ceilings and Greek frescoes en route to the nearby Mona Lisa, but they won’t see any crown jewels or empty display cases. The collections and precious jewels once displayed there have been removed, as the museum said the gallery is returning to its 17th-century original ceremonial purpose.
The stolen jewels remain unrecovered nine months later.
The gallery's former exhibits will be relocated elsewhere in the museum, said Christophe Leribault, the Louvre's director. "It’s also an opportunity to rediscover the splendid architecture and decor of this gallery," he said.
Leribault was named to lead the Louvre in February after previous director Laurence des Cars resigned after the October crown jewels heist and a string of failures that battered confidence in the leadership of the world’s most-visited museum.
"That sinister day, when iconic pieces were taken, cannot be forgotten, and indeed, I believe, should not be," said French Culture Minister Catherine Pegard. "It was a trauma for the entire world, which, for several days, expressed its shock and sadness in every language. It was a trauma for us, discovering the fragility of a place we thought unshakeable, and which, like so many others, proved vulnerable."
Security at the Paris museum has been boosted with the addition of new surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems.
On the day of the heist, thieves took less than eight minutes to force their way through a window into the Apollo Gallery and steal crown jewels valued at 88 million euros (NZ$173 million), in a weekend operation that stunned visitors and exposed glaring security vulnerabilities.
Security improvement is a priority of the decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan launched last year, with an estimated cost of up to 800 million euros (NZ$1.5 billion) to modernise infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031.
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