The new Minister of Culture wants to arrange the Louvre renovation project by focusing on safety.

Following the burglary at the Louvre last October and the highlighting of the establishment’s malfunctions, Catherine Pégard asserts that more investment is needed to secure it.

The new Minister of Culture, Catherine Pégard, estimated on Monday, March 30, that the extensive renovation plan for the Louvre announced in 2025 by Emmanuel Macron should be “adapted” to “integrate more” security issues and address the weaknesses revealed by the October 19 break-in.

Valued at over one billion euros, the Louvre New Renaissance plan, which includes renovating the existing building and creating a new space for the Mona Lisa, was presented by the former museum management as the response to the establishment’s malfunctions.

Despite being put on hold since the burglary, this plan “retains all its necessity for the Louvre to be present in this 21st century, as it has been in the 20th, as the greatest museum in the world,” said Ms. Pégard, who was giving her first interview on France Inter since succeeding Rachida Dati at the end of February.

However, she added, “We will work to likely adapt some aspects of this plan, strengthen others, maybe clarify the specifications to integrate more security and safety issues.” The Minister aims to highlight “security and safety more prominently than has been done before“, while “telling the magnificence of the Louvre of tomorrow“. “It’s not one or the other,” added this former president of the Palace of Versailles.

This plan faced an initial setback with the indefinite postponement in February of the appointment of the group of architects in charge of the Louvre’s redevelopment. Catherine Pégard also stated her intention to make the time remaining before the 2027 presidential election a “useful year” for culture, “useful for opening culture to everyone, but also useful for artists.”

She acknowledged, however, that her actions will be limited by budgetary constraints, which have already led to a reduction of €173.4 million in credits allocated to Culture this year (out of €3.7 billion excluding audiovisual). “Obviously, it’s going to be extremely difficult because we have to contribute to the common effort,” she explained, assuring that she was trying to “protect” the current budget for 2027 and “scrounge here and there for some extra grants that we urgently need.”