San Francisco Frontiers - Louvre boss warns of closure risk without major renovations

Speaking to Le Figaro, Christophe Leribault said that the museum intended to tap private sources of funding for its transformation, but that a major injection of public money would need to be approved after national elections next year.

"Whoever forms the next government must keep in mind that if the Louvre is not repaired, updated, and transformed, it will very quickly fall behind and will eventually have to close its doors to the public. That would be a disaster," he said.

Successive minority governments in France have struggled for years to pass annual budgets and current Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is struggling to rein in public spending to reduce the country's vast deficit.

Leribault was appointed in February in the aftermath of an embarrassing October 19 heist last year which saw a gang of thieves raid the Louvre to steal crown jewels worth an estimated $100 million.

He has made tackling the problems highlighted by the theft a priority, with the rollout of an 83-million-euro security masterplan "moving forward at speed", he told AFP ahead of the one-year anniversary of the crime.

Measures include creating a new head of security position, upgrading the security camera network -- which was found to have old cameras and major gaps -- as well as improved surveillance around the perimeter and at access points.

- No 'miracle' solution -

Leribault argued that long-term improvements could only be made as part of the larger overhaul he has planned for the institution, which welcomed around nine million visitors last year.

"The operations needed to secure the museum require work on the historic building and its infrastructure," he wrote.

"There is no easy, miracle 'surface' solution. Everything is interconnected, everything is linked," he added.

The world's most-visited museum is widely seen as facing structural problems from its old plumbing, badly insulated galleries and cramped public areas.

The extent of the work and the cost have become extremely political, with President Emmanuel Macron championing a 600-million-euro overhaul that would include a new entrance.

Trade unions criticised Macron and Leribault's predecessor, Laurence des Cars, for prioritising grandiose plans for an architectural overhaul instead of more modest changes that would improve the visitor experience.

M.Hill--SFF