The president of the Louvre Museum in Paris has stepped down, four months after a high-profile break-in saw jewels worth 88 million euros($103.6 million) stolen and huge security flaws revealed at the world's biggest museum.

Laurence des Cars first offered to quit straight after October's daylight heist, over which four men are currently being investigated, but left her position this week in what France's President Emmanuel Macron called "an act of responsibility".

Des Cars had previously admitted that the burglary was a "terrible failure" of security, and that the Louvre's preventive measures had been "highly inadequate".

Inquiries revealed that in 2024, just 39 percent of rooms in the museum, which is one of France's most popular sites, drawing 8.7 million visitors last year, had security cameras fitted, and a probe into the break-in found "chronic, structural underestimation of the risk of intrusion and theft".

In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, Des Cars said she had timed her resignation to allow modernization plans to be put into place without any distractions.

"The minister of culture asked me to stay the course during the storm, which I did," she said. "I got through this period, I believe, with a cool head. I am calm and proud of the work I have accomplished. But staying the course is not enough."

Christophe Leribault, who has previously been in charge of historic sites including the Palace of Versailles, has been appointed as Des Cars' successor.

Macron's office said the Louvre needed "calm and a strong new impetus to successfully carry out major projects involving security and modernization", and it is hoped the new era will bring an end to a period of embarrassing negative publicity for the Louvre.

In other incidents since the break-in, hundreds of antique books were damaged by a leaking water pipe, that had been known about for a year, but not repaired, and a suspected multi-million euro ticket fraud scheme involving museum staff members and tour guides also recently came to light.

Employees staged a walk-out in December in protest at pay and working conditions, with Christian Galani, a representative of the CGT union, telling local media outlets that over the last 15 years, the museum had lost 200 full-time workers while visitor numbers had risen by 50 percent.

Ticket revenue, particularly from overseas tourists, is a vital source of income for the Louvre, with more than one-tenth of its visitors coming from the United States, and 6 percent from China. In November, plans were announced for a 45 percent increase in ticket prices, up to 32 euros, for visitors from non-EU countries, including China and the US.