Four hundred books at Louvre get damaged from water leak

(MENAFN) A major water leak in the Egyptian antiquities department of the Louvre Museum on Nov. 27 damaged roughly 400 books, raising fresh concerns about the deteriorating infrastructure of the world’s most visited museum—just weeks after a high-profile jewel theft.

La Tribune de l’Art, which first reported the incident, said the flooding was foreseeable. For years, staff in the department had repeatedly requested funding from Louvre Deputy Director General Francis Steinbock to relocate sensitive collections or install protective measures. They had warned that ageing pipes in the suspended ceiling posed a growing threat.

Those appeals were rejected, including a proposal to obtain proper storage furniture to protect rare items such as Karl Richard Lepsius’s Description of Egypt. A plan to bring in an external contractor to help move the books—made possible by the relocation of another department’s library—was also reportedly denied.

Although the most valuable volumes were not damaged, the report notes they remain stored under windows and protected only with bubble wrap, leaving them vulnerable to storms that regularly cause major leaks in that part of the building.

The leak also forced the closure of offices in the museum’s Mollien Pavilion, following a smaller incident in the same area just a week earlier.

The flooding comes on the heels of an audacious daytime heist on Oct. 19, when thieves used a stolen truck and a furniture lift to access one of the Louvre’s most ornate rooms. They escaped within minutes on scooters, carrying royal jewels—including an emerald and diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon Bonaparte to Marie-Louise and a diadem belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.

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