A water leak at the Louvre museum in Paris has damaged hundreds of works, just weeks after thieves stole priceless French crown jewels from the museum in broad daylight.
The museum’s deputy administrator, Francis Steinbock, said that between 300 and 400 works, mostly books, were affected by the leak and that the count was ongoing.
Steinbock told French media that the damage occurred in the Egyptian department and that the volumes are “those consulted by Egyptologists,” but that “no precious books” were affected.
The problem that caused the leak, discovered in late November, had been known for years and repairs are planned for next year, Steinbock added.
The volumes will be dried, sent to a binder and restored before being returned to the shelves.
Steinbock described the books as “Egyptology magazines” and “scientific documentation” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“No heritage objects have been affected by this damage,” Steinbock told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
And he added: “At this time we do not have irreparable and definitive losses in these collections.”
The leak is the third major problem faced by the museum, which is the most visited in the world, in as many months.
In November, structural weaknesses led to the partial closure of one of the galleries housing Greek vases and offices, and on 19 October four thieves made off with jewelery worth €88m (£76m; $102m), exposing glaring security gaps.
The jewels have not yet been recovered and the museum has since moved some of its most prized jewels to the Bank of France.
A report published in October by France’s public audit body, known as the Cour des Comptes, criticized the museum’s excessive spending on artworks, which it said was “to the detriment of the maintenance and renovation of the buildings.”
