New Louvre director appointed to guide the museum out of a long time of disaster

[ad_1] The world’s largest museum has a brand new boss.

French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Christophe Leribault as the brand new director of the Louvre Museum on Wednesday. The appointment comes a day after his predecessor Laurence des Vehicles, the museum’s first feminine director, resigned.

The previous Paris bureau chief for the New York Instances, Elaine Sciolino, wrote in her e book “Adventures within the Louvre” that des Vehicles “introduced impeccable credentials as director”. But the winds weren't in des Vehicles' favour. She was accused of speeding the sweeping, €800 million “Nouvelle Renaissance” modernisation of the museum, one in all French President Emmanuel Macron's pet tasks.

However catastrophe struck when thieves took lower than eight minutes to steal crown jewels valued at €88 million ($102 million) from the Louvre in October. The heist surprised guests, uncovered obtrusive vulnerabilities and left one in all France's most symbolically charged collections in legal palms.

In a succinct communiqué launched Tuesday, Macron’s workplace introduced that des Vehicles had supplied her resignation, which the president accepted.

“She has too few associates and too many enemies,” Sciolino mentioned in a social media submit on Wednesday.

Learn extra Worth hike on non-EU guests will fund Louvre's ‘renaissance’, Macron says

An skilled artwork historian takes the helm Like his predecessor, the Louvre's new director is an skilled artwork historian and curator.

Leribault, 62, has been working one other world-renowned French landmark, Versailles Palace, since 2024. The previous palace for French royalty west of Paris was the venue for Olympic equestrian sports activities when Paris hosted the summer season video games. Leribault additionally as soon as headed Paris’s Orsay Museum.

“He will likely be tasked with main necessary tasks which can be essential for the establishment’s future," French authorities spokeswoman Maud Bregeon mentioned as she introduced Leribault’s appointment.

Foremost amongst them will likely be main the "Nouvelle Renaissance" renovation venture that uncovered des Vehicles to appreciable backlash.

French presidents typically like to depart a significant cultural work as a part of their legacy – Georges Pompidou with the eponymous Centre Pompidou, François Mitterrand with the nationwide library or the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, for instance.

The Louvre renovation is Macron’s venture.

That's one motive some in France’s cultural world brazenly speculated des Vehicles didn't go away in October, proper after the heist, even after providing her resignation: Macron had a lot using on the Louvre plan that a right away departure risked making his flagship cultural venture appear to be it was collapsing.

Addressing a long time of dysfunction The venture features a new entrance close to the Seine River to ease strain on I.M. Pei’s pyramid, new underground areas and a devoted room for the “Mona Lisa” with timed entry – all meant to enhance crowd circulate and scale back the each day crush of holiday makers that has grow to be a logo of the Louvre’s success, and its dysfunction.

The previous royal palace has additionally suffered a broad array of different issues which have introduced an image of a treasured nationwide establishment crumbling in actual time.

Learn extra Burst water pipe and ticket fraud costs add to Louvre museum's woes

The Louvre’s issues spotlight a long time of under-investment: “overcrowding, leaks from all kinds of various pipes that don’t work all through the entire place", Sciolino mentioned in an interview with FRANCE 24 in December 2025.

"Safety has been one of many most important issues and one of many most important faults of the Louvre,” she mentioned.

Strikes over pay and dealing situations have repeatedly shut the Louvre since mid-December whereas water leaks and a ticket-fraud probe that prosecutors say siphoned greater than €10 million over a decade have additionally forged a shadow over one in all Paris's high vacationer points of interest.

“The French state is making an attempt to get it proper, and this plan to create a complete new entry for the Louvre, with a particular area for the Mona Lisa – that’s nice. However it’s going to value a billion {dollars} and it’s going to take a minimum of six years, and the Louvre wants assist now,” Sciolino mentioned.

Leribault now faces the fragile activity of sustaining the integrity of a nationwide monument whereas making a smoother and extra accessible expertise for guests.