Not even a month had passed since the spectacular jewelry theft at the Louvre Museum in Paris on October 19, when it was discovered that a water leak in the ventilation systems had damaged between 300 and 400 documents in one of the museum’s libraries.
The materials in question are part of the collection of the Egyptology department and, as Francis Steinbock, deputy director of the museum, explained this Sunday to a television channel, these are documents that the researchers consulted but which were not irreplaceable, “Egyptology journals” and “scientific documentation” from the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Although they are still assessing the damage, he said many materials can be restored. “No heritage object was affected by this damage,” he assured. “At this time, we have no irreparable or permanent losses in these collections.”
Museum officials discovered the outage and destruction on November 26 but waited until Sunday to make it public. As reported on the website The Art Tribune The poor condition of the ventilation system had long been detected, but there were no funds to repair it. Steinbock said repair work on the ventilation system was planned for September 2026.
The outage occurred in the Mollien wing and affected one of the three rooms of the Egyptology department library. “No heritage object was affected by this damage,” he said. “At this time, we have no irreparable or permanent losses in these collections.”
This Sunday, the CFDT-Cultura union also raised its voice by publishing a press release: “This latest incident confirms a situation that has been deteriorating for too long. » On Monday, the union is planning a meeting to discuss these serious incidents.
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