PORTRAIT – In five years, the general curator of heritage has gone from the Petit Palais to Orsay, from Orsay to Versailles and then from Versailles to the Louvre. An exemplary journey for someone whom Emmanuel Macron praises for their qualities and modernity.
C’est la deuxième fois qu’il succède à Laurence des Cars. Christophe Leribault, current president of the Château de Versailles, is set to be appointed head of the Louvre on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers, following the resignation of its president. “He will have as his main missions the security and modernization of the museum,” explains the Élysée Palace, including the “implementation of the Louvre – New Renaissance” project, a presidential project launched in January 2025 and heavily disrupted in recent months by the burglary of the Apollo Gallery and the increase in incidents in the museum since.
If the sequence seems familiar, it’s because Christophe Leribault had taken over the management of the Musée d’Orsay in 2021, when Laurence des Cars was appointed president-director of the Louvre. A mission of barely two and a half years since in the spring of 2024, he was once again called to change positions by handing over to Catherine Pégard at the head of the public institution of the Château de Versailles.
