Water Leak at Louvre Does Serious Damage

In the wake of a brazen heist during which more than $100 million worth of jewelry was stolen, the Louvre has more bad news. The iconic Paris museum announced Sunday that a water pipe leak released a "flood of dirty water" in the Egyptian antiquities department's library on Nov. 26, People reports. Between 300 and 400 books were damaged, the museum says. Fortunately, the damaged volumes are not "precious" works, museum officials say, but rather books consulted by Egyptologists at the museum. "No heritage artifacts have been affected by this damage," the museum's deputy administrator says, per the Guardian. "At this stage, we have no irreparable and definitive losses in these collections." The affected books will be dried, restored, and returned to shelves.

The problem with the pipe was a known one, and repairs had been scheduled for next year, Reuters reports. The museum says an investigation into the incident will be opened. While the heist highlighted the need for improvements to its security systems, the leak highlights the need for repairs to the museum's aging infrastructure, the New York Times reports. France's public audit body released a report in October blaming "excessive spending on artwork" for the Louvre's lack of improvements to its infrastructure. Meanwhile, the jewels stolen in the heist have yet to be recovered, the BBC reports.