France tasks Versailles director with overhauling Louvre after heist

France on Wednesday appointed Christophe Leribault as the new head of the Louvre, bringing in the director of the Palace of Versailles to turn around the world's most-visited museum after a humiliating jewellery heist and staff strikes.

He will succeed Laurence des Cars, who resigned on Tuesday, government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said. Des Cars has faced intense criticism since burglars made off in October with jewels worth an estimated $102 million that are still missing, exposing glaring security gaps at the museum.

"Leribault's priority will be to strengthen the safety and security of the building, the collections, and people, to restore a climate of trust, and to carry forward, together with all the teams, the necessary transformations for the museum," the Culture Ministry said in a statement about President Emmanuel Macron's pick for the job.

Leribault, 62, is an 18th‑century art historian who previously led Paris' Musée d’Orsay and the Orangerie before taking over at Versailles in 2024. He will leave the Versailles job to take up the Louvre role.

He was deputy director of the Louvre's department of graphic arts from 2006 to 2012, the ministry said.

As well as the heist, strikes over pay and work conditions have repeatedly shut the Louvre since mid‑December, while water leaks and a ticket‑fraud probe that prosecutors say siphoned more than 10 million euros over a decade have also cast a shadow over one of Paris' top tourist attractions.

A state auditors' report last year urged management at the Louvre, home to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, to redirect spending from acquisitions to overdue security and infrastructure upgrades.

-Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Elissa Darwish; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten, Gabriel Stargardter and Alison Williams/Reuters