Louvre Museum Director Laurence des Cars confirmed on Wednesday that she offered her resignation following the spectacular theft of jewelry from the museum in the heart of Paris.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati refused the resignation, des Cars said during questioning in the French Senate about the theft.
She said she made the offer after reviewing the consequences of the "terrible attack that we have just experienced" with Dati and Interior Minister Laurent Nunez on Sunday.
The director of the world's largest museum also said that in her long career, she had never believed that people owned their jobs.
This is a "rule of professional life" that she hopes to strictly adhere to, des Cars said.
Her remarks came three days after the brazen burglary at the Louvre, in which jewels worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million) were stolen.
A search is underway for the perpetrators and the loot.
The museum reopened on Wednesday morning after being entirely closed in the wake of the robbery.
However, the Apollo Gallery, where the break-in occurred, remains closed for the time being, the broadcaster France Info reported.
