Louvre workers announce strike over work conditions and security after €88m heist

Workers at the Louvre Museum in Paris voted on Monday to go on strike in protest of their working conditions, a ticket price hike for non-European visitors, and security weaknesses that led to the brazen daylight theft of France's Crown Jewels in October.

In a letter announcing the strike action next Monday and addressed to France's Culture Minister Rachida Dati, the CGT, CFDT and Sud unions said that "visiting the Louvre has become a real obstacle course" for the millions of people who come to admire its vast collections of art and artefacts.

The museum, the world's most visited, is in "crisis," with insufficient resources and "increasingly deteriorated working conditions," said the unions' strike notice to Dati.

"The theft of 19 October 2025 highlighted shortcomings in priorities that had long been reported," the unions alleged.

The robbers made off with loot worth an estimated €88 million with the museum director subsequently acknowledging a ″terrible failure" in security.

The gang took less than eight minutes to force their way into the museum and leave, using a freight lift to reach one of the building’s windows, angle grinders to cut into jewellery display cases, and motorbikes to make their escape.

The haul has not been recovered and includes a diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels tied to two 19th-century queens, and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.

The upkeep of the museum's vast and historic buildings, which were once a palace for French royals, has also not kept pace with its success as one of France's leading attractions.

Water damage

A water leak on 26 November damaged several hundred publications stored in the museum's library of works specialising in Egyptian antiquities.

The damaged works included revues and documents from the 19th and 20th centuries, the museum said.

The opening of a valve triggered a leak in a network of water pipes due to be replaced next year, the museum said.

Last month, the Louvre also announced the temporary closure of some employees' offices and one public gallery because of weakened floor beams.

In their strike notice, the unions said that antiquated facilities and insufficient staffing are impacting the visitor experience, forcing the closure of some displays.

They demanded that resources be focused on building improvements and safeguarding the museum, its collections, visitors and employees.

"We are in a run-down museum which has shown its security weaknesses," Christian Galani, a CGT union official representing Louvre workers, said.

He said the strike-action vote by employees on Monday morning was unanimous and that the planned rolling strikes risked forcing the museum's closure.

"We need a change of gear," he said.