Risk management. Like the State for the Louvre, Paris Musées is its own insurer for its buildings and permanent collections but must deal with a municipal budget, that of Paris. “I am my own insurer for both buildings and collections”confirms its general director, Anne-Sophie de Gasquet. “On the other hand, I systematically insure all of my temporary exhibitions with a commercial insurer with so-called nail-to-nail coverage which extends from the departure of the work from the lender until its return,” she adds. Anne-Sophie de Gasquet places the origins of the vigilance of museums well before the Louvre. Everything really started in May 2010 when five master paintings were stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. And never found. “It’s a founding moment for us,” she confides.
An initial security program of 17 million euros was implemented between 2010 and 2015, followed by a renovation plan of 120 million euros over ten years, accompanied by a security component integrated into each site. “For a global renovation like that of the Carnavalet Museum between 2017 and 2020, we worked with the police headquarters to build a complete security plan, including fire”specifies the director of Paris Musées. However, Aurélia Farkoa, director of the Fine Art France department at Morel & Cie and broker of the institution, puts things into perspective by mentioning “the budgetary question”. “Asking these museums to put in place such significant security means requires releasing budgets that municipalities do not always have”she specifies.
The cost of security
Despite everything, the establishment’s annual security budget, including payroll, now reaches around 25 million euros. On the strict insurance side separate from the security budget, Paris Musées estimates the envelope devoted to insuring its exhibitions, general and specific guarantees combined, at around 400,000 euros for 2025. An amount which gives a concrete scale of the annual insurance commitment of an establishment of this size, fourteen museums and dozens of temporary exhibitions per year. “ For each, we work with the lenders and with the insurer to take measures adapted to the value of the works, this is the subject of an ongoing dialogue, underlines Anne Sophie de Gasquet. In the case of the “Pocket Luxury” exhibition in Cognacq-Jay in 2024 for example, the windows had been reinforced due to the value of the works by mutual agreement with lenders and insurers. »
The entire video surveillance of the museum had been changed between 2022 and 2024 just before this event, which did not prevent the four armed and hooded robbers from bursting into the museum in broad daylight, to seize seven priceless snuff boxes by smashing the window with an ax. Only five of these precious objects have been found. After the Cognacq-Jay robbery, the City voted for an exceptional subsidy. “We received an additional 1.8 million euros at the end of last year, for safety and security”she specifies, emphasizing “the permanent nature of questions about security”.
