Water leak in the Louvre damages hundreds of works, museum says

A water leak in late November damaged several hundred works in the Louvre’s Egyptian department, the Paris museum said on Sunday, weeks after a brazen jewel theft raised concerns over its infrastructure.“Between 300 and 400 works” were affected by the leak discovered on 26 November, the museum’s deputy administrator, Francis Steinbock, said, describing them as “Egyptology journals” and “scientific documentation” used by researchers.The damaged items dated from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and were “extremely useful” but “by no means unique”, Steinbock added.“No heritage artefacts have been affected by this damage,” he said. “At this stage, we have no irreparable and definitive losses in these collections.”The incident comes after a theft in October in which a four-person gang raided the world’s most-visited art museum in broad daylight, stealing jewellery worth an estimated $102m (£76.5m) in just seven minutes before escaping. It led to a debate over the museum’s ageing infrastructure.The Louvre said there would be an internal investigation into the November leak, which was caused by the accidental opening of a valve in the heating and ventilation system that led to water seeping through the ceiling of the Mollien wing, where the books were stored.The “completely obsolete” system had been shut down for months and was due to be replaced from September 2026, the museum administrator added.The works will “be dried, sent to a bookbinder to be restored, and then returned to the shelves”, Steinbock said.In late November, the Louvre said it would raise ticket prices for most non-EU visitors, meaning US, British and Chinese tourists, among others, will have to pay €32 (£28) to get in.The museum said the 45% price hike aimed to boost annual revenues by up to $23m to fund structural improvements.The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors in 2024, 69% from abroad.