LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Louvre is set to get a multimillion-dollar security overhaul next year after a brazen robbery in October. In the meantime, officials have resorted to a rather low-tech solution. Here's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: I've come out to see the newest security edition that the Louvre put on this week, bars over the windows where the thieves broke in in October. And it's impressive. It's more than bars. They have literally put a massive black iron gate over those two windows.
But it's going to take more than that to secure the 400-room former king's palace. The thieves made off with more than $100 million in French royal jewels. Eight suspects have been identified, and several are in custody, though the jewels are still missing. The brazen daytime heist shocked France and revealed shocking lapses in the Louvre's security. As it turns out, the camera surveilling those windows was pointed the other way. So it did not pick up the truck that parked right against the museum's wall and the men who clambered up the electric ladder to the second-floor balcony, shaving precious minutes from authorities' response time.
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LAURENCE DES CARS: (Non-English language spoken).
BEARDSLEY: Speaking in a tense two-hour session in front of the French Senate, Louvre director Laurence des Cars admitted they didn't spot the thieves' arrival early enough. She said museum security in recent years has focused more on protecting artwork from paint-throwing activists. President Emmanuel Macron has announced a $580 million renovation plan for the Louvre, which includes more than $90 million for refurbished security command centers.
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BEARDSLEY: A mobile police squad now patrols the roundabout in front of the Louvre's iconic glass pyramid. A hundred additional cameras are set to be installed around the museum.
STANISLAS PONCE: (Non-English language spoken).
BEARDSLEY: Parisian Stanislas Ponce (ph) is strolling by the Louvre on Christmas Day. He visits the museum often and admits there isn't much security. Still, he says nobody expected a robbery like that.
PONCE: (Non-English language spoken).
BEARDSLEY: "But securing the Louvre is important," says Ponce. "Iron bars, cameras, whatever it takes," he says. "It's the world's most visited museum and one of France's treasures."
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE HERBALISER SONG, "THE SENSUAL WOMAN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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