Water from a burst pipe damaged between 300 and 400 books in the Louvre Museum’s Department of Egyptian Antiquities, officials confirmed Sunday.

Beefed-up security following the shocking heist of French crown jewels in October was no match for flooding that caused a pipe to burst and water to leak into the department’s library section, housed in the museum’s Mollien Wing , German magazine DW reported.

“We have recorded between 300 and 400 works [damaged],” Louvre deputy general administrator Francis Steinbock, told France’s BFM-TV. “The complete tally is underway.”

The works were from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Steinbock said, describing them as “extremely useful but by no means unique” in what DW said appeared to be an attempt to downplay the severity. Steinbock

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