It seems that the curse of the Pharaohs has hit the Louvre Museum in Paris. Almost a month after a widely publicised theft of jewels, a water leak has now affected the museum’s Egyptology library, triggering a wave of international concern and speculation and alarm across media and social networks.
In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Hélène Guichard, head of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre, clarified the facts surrounding the recent water leak in the museum’s research library, asserting that the incident had caused no damage to antiquities or irreplaceable heritage and describing it instead as a routine technical issue amplified by misinformation.
Far from the catastrophic scenarios circulated online, the episode involved a limited number of modern reference volumes affected by a malfunctioning heating pipe in the library of the Ancient Egyptian Department’s staff, with no impact on ancient collections, archives, or historic manuscripts.
Guichard was unequivocal from the outset that what had occurred was not a disaster and was not even close to one.
“This is not a disaster at all,” she told the Weekly over the phone, describing the incident as “a minor water leak in the library of our offices and nothing more than a small flood caused by a pipe that had already been sealed off six months earlier.”
The pipe in question was part of the heating system serving the department’s offices. Guichard explained that a previous leak had already prompted technical services to assess the infrastructure and conclude that the pipes needed replacing.
As a precaution, the water supply had been shut down, and full replacement works were scheduled for next year, a timeline dictated by the need to relocate offices and collections during the renovations.
“In the meantime, everything was functioning normally,” she said. “Then, for reasons we still don’t fully understand, a plumber contracted by the Louvre turned the water supply back on. It was a human error. The water should never have been turned back on.”
As a result, water leaked into the department’s research library from the ceiling. The library houses approximately 15,000 volumes, of which around 350 were affected.
“These were standard reference works,” Guichard said. “Modern monographs and periodical series and Egyptological journals published once or twice a year in different countries. Nothing rare, nothing irreplaceable.”
She was firm in dismissing claims that historic or patrimonial works had been damaged. “Absolutely not. These are only modern materials,” she said. “By ‘modern’, I mean that the oldest journal issues might date back to the late 19th century, but that is all.”
Emergency measures were implemented immediately. The affected books were laid out to dry, dehumidifiers were installed, and conservators were called in to assess the damage.
“Yes, some bindings, especially leather bindings, were affected,” Guichard acknowledged. “But they can be repaired. They will be restored. A bookbinder has already come, evaluated the situation, and prepared a cost estimate.”
Crucially, she emphasised, no books were destroyed, and all remain usable. “There is no Description de l’Égypte and no major 19th-century publications involved,” she said. “Those are safely stored elsewhere.”
Guichard expressed frustration at what she described as an exaggerated media reaction. “I read things in the press and on social media that are simply incomprehensible,” she said. “I am honestly astonished by the media frenzy around what is essentially a non-event.”
She recalled a conversation with a journalist who questioned why the Museum had not issued an immediate public announcement. “When you have a water leak in your office or your bathroom, you do not inform the world’s media,” she replied. “It’s the same situation.”
While acknowledging that the incident was regrettable, Guichard was clear that it posed no serious risk.
“Of course, we are not happy that books were damaged,” she said. “But these are works that can be replaced, and in fact they won’t need to be because they are not destroyed.”
She categorically dismissed rumours suggesting that antiquities, manuscripts, or papyri had been affected. “No, nothing of the sort,” she asserted. “The library is located in our offices in a completely different wing of the Louvre from the exhibition galleries. We are about 800 metres away from the Egyptian antiquities on display.”
The materials affected, she explained, are the everyday tools of scholarly work: reference books and academic journals such as the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. “These are series that come out once or twice a year,” she explained. “Over a century, that adds up to many volumes, but it’s not a significant loss.”
She was particularly taken aback by false reports claiming that books annotated by Jean-François Champollion had been destroyed. “Where do people come up with these stories?” she asked. “It’s astonishing.”
The restoration of the affected volumes is expected to take only a few weeks. Funding has already been secured, and specialised conservators are ready to proceed. Looking ahead, she noted that the full replacement of the heating system will begin early next year. The work will require temporarily relocating the library and surrounding offices, during which time the library will likely be closed.
“We will have to move everything,” she explained. “Ceilings need to be opened, old pipes removed, and a new system installed. It will take several months.” The closure, she added, will have limited impact. “We receive only a few hundred external researchers a year,” she said. “The primary users are our own scientific staff.”
The incident prompted an outpouring of international solidarity. “I was very surprised to receive so many messages of support from Egyptologist colleagues around the world,” Guichard said.
While she described the messages of support as generous, she added that they were prompted largely by a misunderstanding of the incident’s severity, amplified by media coverage that suggested a far more serious situation than was actually the case.
Several institutions, she continued, went so far as to offer practical assistance, proposing to donate duplicate copies and spare volumes to replace books they believed had been lost. The gesture, Guichard noted, was touching and deeply appreciated, serving as a reminder of the strong and genuine sense of solidarity that exists among Egyptological museums and research institutions worldwide.
For Guichard, the episode serves as a reminder of how quickly routine technical issues can spiral into global concern when heritage institutions are involved. But she remains resolute: the collections are safe, the damage is limited, and the reality is far less dramatic than the rumours suggested.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 18 December, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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