After $102 million heist, a burst pipe soaks hundreds of rare books at the Paris Louvre Museum

The world’s most visited museum is battling a different kind of threat, not thieves this time, but water. A burst pipe inside the Louvre last month damaged up to 400 rare books in its Egyptian antiquities department, just weeks after a Rs 847 crore jewel heist exposed deep security cracks at the Paris landmark.

The twin blows, one silent and slow, the other swift and spectacular, have reignited questions over the museum’s aging infrastructure and delayed repairs. What was damaged inside the Louvre

Specialist art website La Tribune de l’Art reported that around 400 rare reference books were affected by the leak, blaming deteriorating pipes, according to Reuters.

The water entered one of the three rooms of the Egyptian antiquities department’s library. The books are widely used by Egypto