The Louvre risks having to close its doors to the public unless lawmakers approve a major overhaul of the creaking, over-capacity museum, its director warned on Wednesday. Speaking to Le Figaro, Christophe Leribault said whoever forms the next French government must understand that without repair, modernisation and transformation, the institution will fall behind and ultimately shut. That, he said, would be a disaster. Leribault plans to tap private funding for the transformation but insists a significant public contribution must be approved after national elections next year. Successive minority governments have struggled for years to pass annual budgets, and prime minister Sebastien Lecornu is under pressure to rein in the country's large deficit. Appointed in February in the wake of an embarrassing heist last October, in which thieves stole crown jewels worth an estimated one hundred million dollars, Leribault has made security his priority. An 83-million-euro security masterplan is moving forward, including a new head of security, an upgraded camera network to replace outdated equipment and close major gaps, and improved surveillance around the perimeter and access points. The warning comes a year after the jewel theft exposed the museum's vulnerabilities and sets up a difficult funding fight in an era of tight public finances. His appeal puts the next government on notice: the world's most visited museum says it cannot survive on reputation alone. Leribault, who took office in February, has described the 83-million-euro security masterplan as moving forward at speed, with the stolen jewels valued at nearly one hundred million dollars and the programme already costing more than eighty million.