PARIS — For the past two months, the Louvre has been facing a nagging question: How could four thieves steal royal jewelry worth more than $100 million in less than 10 minutes?
But news of a water leak in one of the museum’s libraries has in recent days highlighted the reality that outdated security systems are not the only pressing issue facing the museum, and that repairs of its aging infrastructure are needed.
On Sunday afternoon, Francis Steinbock, the deputy administrator of the Louvre, said in a TV interview that up to 400 documents had been damaged by a leak from a water pipe in one of the three library rooms in the Egyptian antiquities department.
Steinbock said that no works of art had been affected. The damaged documents, mostly dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, are archaeology journals usually consulted by researchers, students and staff.
Steinbock said that the documents were being dried one page at the time, and that air dehumidifiers had been placed in the room.
“No ancient works were affected,” said Hélène Guichard, the director of the Egyptian antiquities department at the museum, “and the Louvre’s rapid and efficient response to the incident greatly limited the damage.”
The flood was first reported by Didier Rykner, an influential art historian, on Friday.
“This disaster is yet another illustration of the Louvre’s downward spiral, neglecting its core missions in pursuit of a pipe dream,” he wrote on his site, La Tribune de l’Art.
Gary Guillaud, one of the leaders of a union at the museum, said the leak “represented a real danger for pieces, staff and the building.” In a statement posted on social media, another union, the French Democratic Confederation of Labor, said the latest incident was one more sign that the situation had been “deteriorating for too long.”
“Fragile infrastructure, a lack of strategic visibility on the work being carried out, and poor working conditions mean that the protection of the collections and the safety of staff and visitors remain insufficiently guaranteed,” the statement said. It added that union leaders would meet Monday morning to “decide on the next steps to be taken.”
The museum, a centuries-old former palace, is in dire need of repairs. In late 2023, a show was canceled because a water pipe within the walls burst. In late November, a gallery had to close because of weak beams.
In January, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Laurence des Cars, the Louvre’s director, unveiled “Louvre — New Renaissance,” a major renovation plan for the museum.
The goal of the plan is to tackle overcrowding, with a new entrance and a new room for the Mona Lisa; aging infrastructure; and a defective and outdated security system.
In a scathing report published in early November, the Cour des Comptes, France’s highest auditing body, said the plan was too costly — at 1.1 billion euros (about $1.3 billion) — and misguided. The project, according to the report, should focus on restoring and modernizing infrastructure that had been left to decay for too long, instead of expensive additional work.
The auditors assailed the plan, and said they were unsure that such a sizable sum could be secured. They advised the museum to scrap the new entrance and the room for the Mona Lisa.
In an interview with The New York Times, des Cars insisted that the critical issues the museum faced had been identified, but that carrying out the fixes would take money and time.
In his TV interview, Steinbock said that the obsolescence of the ventilation and heating network, which operates with water pipes, had been well known for years, and that its replacement was already in the works. The renovation, which will take months, is expected to start in September 2026.