From securma at xs4all.nl Thu Apr 3 21:54:00 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 21:54:00 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] test Message-ID: <3E8CAD78.27175.14C67B@localhost> _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Thu Apr 3 23:01:35 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 23:01:35 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] test Message-ID: <3E8CBD4F.20170.52A50B@localhost> _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Thu Apr 3 23:04:10 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 23:04:10 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] nog een keer Message-ID: <3E8CBDEA.22288.55036D@localhost> nog een keer _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Fri Apr 4 07:59:31 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 07:59:31 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] dit is een eerste poging Message-ID: <3E8D3B63.27661.44CC0F@localhost> _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Fri Apr 4 08:06:18 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 08:06:18 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] Message-ID: <3E8D3CFA.8173.4B0523@localhost> _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From mkruse at chello.nl Fri Apr 4 08:10:21 2003 From: mkruse at chello.nl (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Martha_Kr=FCse?=) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 08:10:21 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] test? Message-ID: <3E8D3DED.32229.117C47@localhost> From securma at xs4all.nl Fri Apr 4 08:10:58 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 08:10:58 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] voorlopig Message-ID: <3E8D3E12.27882.4F4B02@localhost> Voorlopig de laatste test, want er moet ook nog echt gewerkt worden.... test om te checken of de signature okay is. From securma at xs4all.nl Fri Apr 4 08:20:54 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 08:20:54 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] Message-ID: <3E8D4066.23344.5860D1@localhost> From securma at xs4all.nl Fri Apr 4 08:22:39 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 08:22:39 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] In-Reply-To: <3E8D4066.23344.5860D1@localhost> Message-ID: <3E8D40CF.31976.59FD6A@localhost> On 4 Apr 2003 at 8:20, CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork wrote: > > ______________ > > Cultural Property Protection Net > http://www.cpprot.net/ > subscribe at cpprot.net > unsubscribe at cpprot.net > http://www.museum-security.org/ > __________________ > _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From thomas at thomascremers.nl Fri Apr 4 10:01:43 2003 From: thomas at thomascremers.nl (Thomas T. Cremers) Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2003 10:01:43 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] In-Reply-To: <3E8D40CF.31976.59FD6A@localhost> References: <3E8D4066.23344.5860D1@localhost> <3E8D40CF.31976.59FD6A@localhost> Message-ID: <20030404080143.GD848@duvel.te.verweg.com> On Fri, Apr 04, 2003 at 08:22:39AM +0200, Ton Cremers wrote: het werkt! > On 4 Apr 2003 at 8:20, CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork wrote: > > > > > ______________ > > > > Cultural Property Protection Net > > http://www.cpprot.net/ > > subscribe at cpprot.net > > unsubscribe at cpprot.net > > http://www.museum-security.org/ > > __________________ > > > > _____________________________ > http://www.museum-security.org > http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html > subscribe mailinglist: > http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html > > Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: > http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp > > All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. > ______________________________ > > > ______________ > > Cultural Property Protection Net > http://www.cpprot.net/ > subscribe at cpprot.net > unsubscribe at cpprot.net > http://www.museum-security.org/ > __________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Fri Apr 4 14:26:04 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 14:26:04 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] Paula! Read this ......... Message-ID: <3E8D95FC.29512.29F13E@localhost> best regards Ton A letter to America You're the 21st-century Romans. Your admiring friends used to know you well: land of the brave, home of the free. Now, as you obsess over the omens of war, we wonder if you know yourself, muses MARGARET ATWOOD By MARGARET ATWOOD Dear America: This is a difficult letter to write, because I'm no longer sure who you are. Some of you may be having the same trouble. I thought I knew you: We'd become well acquainted over the past 55 years. You were the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic books I read in the late 1940s. You were the radio shows -- Jack Benny, Our Miss Brooks. You were the music I sang and danced to: the Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, the Platters, Elvis. You were a ton of fun. You wrote some of my favourite books. You created Huckleberry Finn, and Hawkeye, and Beth and Jo in Little Women, courageous in their different ways. Later, you were my beloved Thoreau, father of environmentalism, witness to individual conscience; and Walt Whitman, singer of the great Republic; and Emily Dickinson, keeper of the private soul. You were Hammett and Chandler, heroic walkers of mean streets; even later, you were the amazing trio, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner, who traced the dark labyrinths of your hidden heart. You were Sinclair Lewis and Arthur Miller, who, with their own American idealism, went after the sham in you, because they thought you could do better. You were Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront, you were Humphrey Bogart in Key Largo, you were Lillian Gish in Night of the Hunter. You stood up for freedom, honesty and justice; you protected the innocent. I believed most of that. I think you did, too. It seemed true at the time. You put God on the money, though, even then. You had a way of thinking that the things of Caesar were the same as the things of God: that gave you self-confidence. You have always wanted to be a city upon a hill, a light to all nations, and for a while you were. Give me your tired, your poor, you sang, and for a while you meant it. We've always been close, you and us. History, that old entangler, has twisted us together since the early 17th century. Some of us used to be you; some of us want to be you; some of you used to be us. You are not only our neighbours: In many cases -- mine, for instance -- you are also our blood relations, our colleagues, and our personal friends. But although we've had a ringside seat, we've never understood you completely, up here north of the 49th parallel. We're like Romanized Gauls -- look like Romans, dress like Romans, but aren't Romans -- peering over the wall at the real Romans. What are they doing? Why? What are they doing now? Why is the haruspex eyeballing the sheep's liver? Why is the soothsayer wholesaling the Bewares? Perhaps that's been my difficulty in writing you this letter: I'm not sure I know what's really going on. Anyway, you have a huge posse of experienced entrail-sifters who do nothing but analyze your every vein and lobe. What can I tell you about yourself that you don't already know? This might be the reason for my hesitation: embarrassment, brought on by a becoming modesty. But it is more likely to be embarrassment of another sort. When my grandmother -- from a New England background -- was confronted with an unsavoury topic, she would change the subject and gaze out the window. And that is my own inclination: Mind your own business. But I'll take the plunge, because your business is no longer merely your business. To paraphrase Marley's Ghost, who figured it out too late, mankind is your business. And vice versa: When the Jolly Green Giant goes on the rampage, many lesser plants and animals get trampled underfoot. As for us, you're our biggest trading partner: We know perfectly well that if you go down the plug-hole, we're going with you. We have every reason to wish you well. I won't go into the reasons why I think your recent Iraqi adventures have been -- taking the long view -- an ill-advised tactical error. By the time you read this, Baghdad may or may not look like the craters of the Moon, and many more sheep entrails will have been examined. Let's talk, then, not about what you're doing to other people, but about what you're doing to yourselves. You're gutting the Constitution. Already your home can be entered without your knowledge or permission, you can be snatched away and incarcerated without cause, your mail can be spied on, your private records searched. Why isn't this a recipe for widespread business theft, political intimidation, and fraud? I know you've been told all this is for your own safety and protection, but think about it for a minute. Anyway, when did you get so scared? You didn't used to be easily frightened. You're running up a record level of debt. Keep spending at this rate and pretty soon you won't be able to afford any big military adventures. Either that or you'll go the way of the USSR: lots of tanks, but no air conditioning. That will make folks very cross. They'll be even crosser when they can't take a shower because your short-sighted bulldozing of environmental protections has dirtied most of the water and dried up the rest. Then things will get hot and dirty indeed. You're torching the American economy. How soon before the answer to that will be, not to produce anything yourselves, but to grab stuff other people produce, at gunboat- diplomacy prices? Is the world going to consist of a few megarich King Midases, with the rest being serfs, both inside and outside your country? Will the biggest business sector in the United States be the prison system? Let's hope not. If you proceed much further down the slippery slope, people around the world will stop admiring the good things about you. They'll decide that your city upon the hill is a slum and your democracy is a sham, and therefore you have no business trying to impose your sullied vision on them. They'll think you've abandoned the rule of law. They'll think you've fouled your own nest. The British used to have a myth about King Arthur. He wasn't dead, but sleeping in a cave, it was said; in the country's hour of greatest peril, he would return. You, too, have great spirits of the past you may call upon: men and women of courage, of conscience, of prescience. Summon them now, to stand with you, to inspire you, to defend the best in you. You need them. Margaret Atwood studied American literature -- among other things -- at Radcliffe and Harvard in the 1960s. She is the author of 10 novels. Her 11th, Oryx and Crake, will be published in May. This essay also appears in The Nation. _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Sun Apr 6 03:01:36 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 03:01:36 +0200 Subject: [Cpprot] test Message-ID: <3E8F9890.19161.B23CE@localhost> _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Sun Apr 6 03:37:59 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 03:37:59 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] nog een test Message-ID: <3E8FA117.8615.2C7336@localhost> _____________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.cpprot.net subscribe mailinglist: subscribe at cpprot.net unsubscribe mailinglist: unsubscribe at cpprot.net All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Sun Apr 6 03:41:51 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 03:41:51 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] nog een test In-Reply-To: <3E8FA117.8615.2C7336@localhost> Message-ID: <3E8FA1FF.11461.2FFE8F@localhost> On 6 Apr 2003 at 3:37, CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork wrote: > _____________________ > > http://www.museum-security.org > http://www.cpprot.net > subscribe mailinglist: > subscribe at cpprot.net > unsubscribe mailinglist: > unsubscribe at cpprot.net > > All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. > ________________________ > > > > ______________ > > Cultural Property Protection Net > http://www.cpprot.net/ > subscribe at cpprot.net > unsubscribe at cpprot.net > http://www.museum-security.org/ > __________________ > _____________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.cpprot.net subscribe mailinglist: subscribe at cpprot.net unsubscribe mailinglist: unsubscribe at cpprot.net All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Sun Apr 6 03:46:48 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 03:46:48 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] test Message-ID: <3E8FA328.26138.348550@localhost> _____________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.cpprot.net subscribe mailinglist: subscribe at cpprot.net unsubscribe mailinglist: unsubscribe at cpprot.net All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ________________________ From mkruse at chello.nl Sun Apr 6 07:08:48 2003 From: mkruse at chello.nl (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Martha_Kr=FCse?=) Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 07:08:48 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] nog een test In-Reply-To: <3E8FA117.8615.2C7336@localhost> Message-ID: <3E8FD280.3301.96D8C@localhost> On 6 Apr 2003 at 3:37, CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork wrote: > _____________________ > > http://www.museum-security.org > http://www.cpprot.net > subscribe mailinglist: > subscribe at cpprot.net > unsubscribe mailinglist: > unsubscribe at cpprot.net > > All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. > ________________________ > > > > ______________ > > Cultural Property Protection Net > http://www.cpprot.net/ > subscribe at cpprot.net > unsubscribe at cpprot.net > http://www.museum-security.org/ > __________________ From liche006 at planet.nl Sun Apr 6 18:26:29 2003 From: liche006 at planet.nl (Leniya Liche) Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 18:26:29 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] Re: [Cpprot] voorlopig In-Reply-To: <3E8D3E12.27882.4F4B02@localhost> Message-ID: <3E907155.25214.14EBC9@localhost> : > Voorlopig de laatste test, want er moet ook nog echt gewerkt worden.... > > test om te checken of de signature okay is. welke signature ? From nikukonda at hotmail.com Mon Apr 7 06:35:41 2003 From: nikukonda at hotmail.com (Kabwe Tuskers) Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 04:35:41 +0000 Subject: [CPProt.net] test Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://duvel.te.verweg.com/pipermail/cpprot/attachments/20030407/cd51490d/attachment.html From securma at xs4all.nl Mon Apr 7 19:22:36 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 19:22:36 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] last week's reports archived at the Museum Security Network website Message-ID: <3E91CFFC.21234.544945@localhost> last weeks reports archived at the Museum Security Network website http://www.museum-security.org/artcrime.html April 7, 2003 - Vandal Cuts String on Rodin Sculpture - Greece makes its case for Elgin Marbles at New York exhibit - Met publishes first 'Most Wanted' list of fugitives - US accused of plans to loot Iraqi antiques - Library historian cracks a theft case - PM's plans for war memorial shock historians - Art sales: theft ; Will Bennett on what happens when owners are held to ransom April 4, 2003 - Archaeological treasures could become casualties; Much of early civilization's history yet undocumented - Ancient Greek tomes donated to library (Tattle-taping is the process of placing anti-theft devices into the book) - Spanish Police Recover Stolen Dali Painting - Hacking through the politics of Angkor - UNA Museum terminates geology activity April 3, 2003 - Museums bear the burden In an age of terror and war, soaring shipping and insurance costs force cutbacks in art shows - Crazy Horse statue returns to South Dakota museum - Historic docket returned to Erie County - UNESCO Fears Iraqi Heritage Razed By Strikes April 2, 2003 - Iraqi cultural heritage sites threathened by war - Disputed German Art Opens in Moscow - Iraqis hiding behind 'ancient ruins' - Call to protect Iraqi heritage; The British Museum is leading calls to stop sites of archaeological interest being destroyed during the conflict in Iraq - 'Foreign cartels target South African museums - Archaeological Shields; Saddam holds Iraq's antiquities hostage March 29, 2003 - Web site on risk to cultural heritage in Iraq - U.S. Urged to Shield Iraqi Treasures from Bombs - Antiquities experts guarding treasures - WAR & HERITAGE: IS ANCIENT IRAQ BEING PROTECTED? - After four decades of struggle, heirs of Czech collector win back some art - Hunt on for Tsars' Amber Room - Iraq: Groups Take Steps To Spare Cultural Heritage - Ring facing May trial for theft - Thief goes hungry for art's sake - Moscow urges UNESCO to set up body to protect historical monuments during conflicts - Shvydkoi Could Face Charges Over German Art Exchange ____________________________________________ _____________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.cpprot.net subscribe mailinglist: subscribe at cpprot.net unsubscribe mailinglist: unsubscribe at cpprot.net All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ________________________ From saz at webtv.net Tue Apr 8 06:48:43 2003 From: saz at webtv.net (SAZ PRODUCTIONS) Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 23:48:43 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [CPProt.net] Two Frescoes Stolen From Ancient Pompeii (washingtonpost.com) Message-ID: <23523-3E9254AB-2062@storefull-2135.public.lawson.webtv.net> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49953-2003Apr7.html From securma at xs4all.nl Tue Apr 8 14:18:48 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 14:18:48 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] future MSN Mailinglist, and new CPProt.net mailinglist Message-ID: <3E92DA48.15836.647AF6@localhost> Dear subscribers, Starting today the Museum Security Network mailinglist will be closed in it's present form. From now on this list will be restricted to security related information. The Museum Security Network website will stay on line. A new list has been set up: the Cultural Property Protection Net mailinglist. This list will be aimed at all non- security related information, most of which did already reach you the past six years via the Museum Security Network Mailinglist. A new domain has been registered: http://www.cpprot.net/ Characteristics of the list: - subscribe requests will be monitored by the list moderator; - unsubscribe requests will be accepted automatically at unsubscribe at cpprot.net - archive will be maintained automatically (address will be announced within a few days); - messages to the list: list at cpprot.net ; - messages to the list can only be send by subscribers; - if needed subscribers can be placed in 'moderated mode'; - the list is protected against spams; in case spams do get through the moderator is able to put the list temporarily in moderated mode; - I will continue collecting and disseminating relevant information the way I used to for the Museum Security Network mailinglist; - addresses of subscribers to the Museum Security Network mailinglist will be transferred to the new list; - the list of addresses is not publicly available; - the mailinglist and it's archive are located at a server in The Netherlands; - the moderator will refrain from editorial comment, and is not responsible for the contents of the list with one exception: I will monitor the list, and make sure that it's content will not deviate from cultural property protection issues. MONEY The Cultural Property Protection Net is not for profit, and the list will remain FREE OF CHARGE for everybody. The Cultural Property Protection Net is in no way affiliated with any organization that supports this net financially, nor will there be any sponsoring or commercial affiliations. In other words: the list is free of charge, but does cost some money for domain registration, website and archive hosting, website maintenance, and server co-location (= separate server PC placed at an ISP). The past six years I paid for the MSN and it's mailinglist from private funds. Financial support will be most welcome, but in no way is a condition to be subscribed, and by all means voluntarily. One of these days all of you will receive a request to donate a small amount of money via PayPal. This will not be a recurrent subscription fee. If donations cover the costs of the Cultural Property Protection Net for several years, new requests for support will not be send until the money is finished. I suggest that individual subscribers support this endeavor with an amount ranging between Euro 5 and 20 (which is about as many US$), and that institutions participate with Euro 100 to 200. Institutions can be billed upon request. Again:payment is NOT obliged to remain subscribed. Ton Cremers From BGilsdorf at NCMAMAIL.DCR.STATE.NC.US Tue Apr 8 15:02:34 2003 From: BGilsdorf at NCMAMAIL.DCR.STATE.NC.US (Bill Gilsdorf) Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 09:02:34 -0400 Subject: [CPProt.net] Museum Floral Policies Message-ID: <542C5A251CC09841A18453B44B8192F6726F24@NCMAMAIL> Ton: I am not sure which list you will choose to use, but please consider asking the others a question for me. We are trying to develop a Policy regarding flora (plants, flowers, etc) in the Museum and in the Galleries. Some patrons set up their own displays for their "Events" and we have no way to determine whether the flowers have been treated for insects etc. Any of you that have an existing policy or procedure, please contact me by email or at the address below. Thanks William R Gilsdorf Chief, Gallery Security North Carolina Museum of Art 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, NC 27607-6494 919-839-6262 (ext 2229) FAX 919-733-8034 E-mail to and from this addressee, in connection with the transaction of public business, is subject to the NC Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my agency. From securma at xs4all.nl Tue Apr 8 17:22:28 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 17:22:28 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] A Gang, a Ladder and a Bold Art Theft Message-ID: <3E930554.7650.10CA3BA@localhost> A Gang, a Ladder and a Bold Art Theft By RALPH BLUMENTHAL Creepy music accompanies the Bravo Network's six-part series, "Art Crimes and Mysteries," which makes its debut tonight with a hourlong docudrama on the 1994 heist of "The Scream" from the National Gallery in Oslo. The music is a clich?, but, let's face it, by this time so is Munch's 1893 Expressionist masterpiece, which now adorns inflatable dolls, T-shirts and coffee mugs. And so, too often, is the film, filled with lines like: "The cops used every trick in the book. It was a race against time to recover `The Scream.' " The actual theft of the painting, valued at $70 million, was riveting, if not quite "the most famous art theft of the 20th century." (The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston lost a Vermeer, Rembrandts and other works valued at $300 million in 1990.) It was a ridiculously low-tech caper. On Feb. 12, 1994, as the Winter Olympics opened in Norway, two men drove up to the museum, threw a ladder against the wall, climbed up to a window, smashed it with a hammer, entered and emerged 50 seconds later with the painting. Museum security was exposed as laughably lax, and the hapless authorities were plagued by hoaxes, including claims by antiabortion activists that they were behind the theft. Almost three months later the painting was recovered undamaged and four career criminals were arrested, lured into a Scotland Yard sting, this film's dramatic focus. British operatives, Norwegian officials and others recount their roles on camera, but actors then play them in re-creations, a back- and-forth that can be disconcerting, especially because the real people and those playing them bear little resemblance to one other. The bad guys are all actors. Understatement is not this program's forte. "The world watched in horror as Norwegian police failed to locate the fragile masterpiece," we are told, and it is "three undercover cops pitted against Norway's most violent criminals." Charley Hill, the British undercover investigator who posed as a Getty Museum official seeking to buy "The Scream," actually says of one suspect, "He had the bug eyes you see in people who are obviously manic." And I thought the business of linking criminal behavior to physical attributes went out long ago. Once the sting gets underway, there are tense moments, as when the chief suspect, a gang member and convicted art thief named Bjorn Grypdal (yep, Norway has gangs) tries to lure Mr. Hill alone at night to a rendezvous site outside Oslo. If you don't get it, the narrator clarifies things: "What would Charley do? Go with the maniac, or risk losing `The Scream' forever?" Wisely, he risks losing the painting. There is, of course, a happy ending, but barely. From a basement crypt in an art dealer's country house, the painting is handed over to Mr. Hill as Mr. Grypdal's confederates in town demand a ransom equal to about $800,000. But Norwegian investigators are late delivering the money. Finally officers blunder in to make the arrests. There are other overtones of farce. All four gang members were found guilty, but three had their convictions overturned because the British operatives had entered Norway with false passports. The National Gallery's chairman, Jens Kristian Thune, who got a book and movie deal out of the affair, offers a post-mortem of some cynicism: "We didn't care about the conviction itself. For us the only important thing was to get the painting back." ART CRIMES AND MYSTERIES `The Scream' Bravo, Tonight at 10 Eastern and Pacific times; 9 Central time. Directed by Ian Leese, Julia Harrington and Bob Bentley. Collette Flight, producer; Leanne Klein, executive producer. A Bravo and Wall to Wall Productions co-production, in association with the BBC. With: Jesse L. Martin, host. This series continues with "The Hairdresser's Tomb," the story of smuggled artifacts from the City of the Dead in Cairo (tomorrow); "The Puppet Master," about forged Giacometti paintings (Wednesday); "Women in a Bathhouse," about the recovery of drawings from the Bremen Museum (Thursday); "The Rubens Robbers," about a Miami sting that recovers a stolen Rubens (Friday); and "Tiffany Tomb Raiders," about robberies from a mausoleum (April 14). http://www.nytimes.com/ From saz at webtv.net Tue Apr 8 17:29:38 2003 From: saz at webtv.net (SAZ PRODUCTIONS) Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 10:29:38 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [CPProt.net] BBC NEWS | Europe | Stolen Pompeii frescoes found Message-ID: <9225-3E92EAE2-384@storefull-2133.public.lawson.webtv.net> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2928659.stm From securma at xs4all.nl Wed Apr 9 02:15:47 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 02:15:47 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] test, please ignore Message-ID: <3E938253.26490.294A50@localhost> http://www.hansholbein.nl/basic_en.html From securma at xs4all.nl Wed Apr 9 12:18:46 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 12:18:46 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] reports CPProt.net April 9, 2003 Message-ID: <3E940FA6.12133.728E5A@localhost> The moderator of the Cultural Property Protection Net disclaims any responsibility for the contents of disseminated reports. April 9, 2003 __________________________________________________ - Are the Internet and GPS Technology Archaeology's Worst Enemies? - Stink Bomb Protest at Art Auction - INTERNATIONAL CODE OF ETHICS FOR DEALERS IN CULTURAL PROPERTY at UNESCO site updated - The costly destruction of rich history, culture - Laundering Drug Money With Art - Burrell Collection painting ruled part of Nazis' stolen art treasures - Police seek missing statue of icon - Greece Repeats Demand for Return of 'Elgin Marbles' _________________________________________________ Are the Internet and GPS Technology Archaeology's Worst Enemies? The Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY -- Bob Forsyth, a retired private investigator living in Las Vegas, takes his Jeep into the high-desert backcountry once or twice a week, searching for the elusive artwork of prehistoric American Indians. With a global positioning system receiver (GPS) mounted on his dashboard and plugged into the laptop computer by his side, Forsyth enters the no-man's land surrounding the Vegas glitz. "I think of the people that were there, where you are, 1,000 years ago. You're walking in their footsteps," he said. The question is: With exact GPS coordinates displayed across the Internet, are too many people now walking in those footsteps? Most of the ancient artwork carved and painted into the rock walls and boulders of the American West have survived for thousands of years in quiet obscurity. But technology has changed that. These days, art that once took years for a person to stumble upon can be quickly pinpointed with a GPS, and discoverers can post the coordinates on the Internet. That leaves the ancient, priceless art vulnerable to what the Bureau of Land Management calls "digital vandalism." "It certainly has changed how we think about our jobs. There's a breathless feeling that the public is ahead of us now," said Dale Davidson, a BLM archaeologist based in Monticello, Utah. A quick peek at the Internet auction site eBay confirms the ancient art is being plundered and sold piecemeal, said Kevin Jones, Utah's state archaeologist. It's not just the treasure hunters who concern the rock-art aficionados. Some of the sites simply can't withstand public adoration. The use of GPS "hasn't changed the nature, but the scale" of those who are finding the sites, Jones said. Indians occupied the slickrock desert country of the Southwest for at least 10,000 years. Much about them and their lives is a mystery to archeologists. What is known about them is gleaned, in large part, from the pictures etched on the rocks: hunting scenes, handprints, ceremonies, even the arrival of pioneers. There are "huge concentrations" of ancient rock art in Utah, Jones said. He estimated that, throughout the West, there are thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of rock-art sites. When Forsyth, the Las Vegas adventurer, finds the treasure he seeks, he writes down the GPS coordinates and takes a digital photograph. Within hours, the photos -- and sometimes the GPS coordinates -- are added to his personal Web site, http://www. forsythlv.com/. Forsyth wants to bring a glimpse of ancient cultures to the public. But he often withholds directions to sensitive artwork. The photos on his Web site of graffiti-covered rock art show why. "This is the reason that the BLM and private organizations are either restricting access or being very secretive about the locations of petroglyph sites," he said on his Web site. "Second, this is the reason why I am trying to locate and photograph all the sites that I can. I want to see them before vandals have completely ruined them." Even the selective access afforded by GPS on Forsyth's Web site doesn't sit well with others who are known for their secrecy about their favorite sites. "We share coordinates between close, personal friends, but not with strangers," explained Nina Bowen, vice president and archivist for the Utah Rock Art Research Association. "We are so anti-telling people about sites that we don't even have a file on these sites. We're purposely very vague about (locations). It's our passion, and we have seen so much vandalism in the past five years." That's when handheld GPS units began being sold in sporting goods stores, Jones said. Sometimes, by the time archaeologists can get to a previously unknown site posted on the Web, it's already been damaged and information has been lost. "Not only are we playing catch-up, but we're trying to record something that's already been impacted," Davidson said. There is a lot of talk about how to deal with this clash between archaeology and technology, but no answers. "We all stand around, kinda scratching our head about it," Davidson said. "It takes all sides to come to a conclusion here. It took a lot of time for this to get to be an issue, and it will take some time to figure out how to deal with it." http://www.sltrib.com/ ___________________________________________ Stink Bomb Protest at Art Auction PARIS (Reuters) - Protesters let off stink bombs and hurled fake euro bills as they vented their opposition to a Paris auction of artworks seen as touchstones of Surrealism. The handful off protesters drowned out the auctioneer's voice Monday as a crowd of more than 400 packed the Drouot auction house when the first of 5,500 items collected by the late Surrealist poet Andre Breton went under the hammer. "You are murdering the poet," a protester shouted, reflecting widespread anger in France's art community that the collection was being sold instead of being saved for the nation. As bidding began, the protesters flung imitation 10 euro bills into the crowd. The smell of stink bombs spread through the room as the auction was held up. Madonna and Bill Gates are reported to be among those interested in an auction that is like a roll-call of modern art, including works by Rene Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Salvador Dali, Jean Arp and Marcel Duchamp. Auctioneers CalmelsCohen expect the collection, which Breton put together in his tiny Montmartre studio, to fetch more than $30 million. _________________________________________ INTERNATIONAL CODE OF ETHICS FOR DEALERS IN CULTURAL PROPERTY at UNESCO site updated Members of the trade in cultural property recognize the key role that trade has traditionally played in the dissemination of culture and in the distribution to museums and private collectors of foreign cultural property for the education and inspiration of all peoples. They acknowledge the world wide concern over the traffic in stolen, illegally alienated, clandestinely excavated and illegally exported cultural property and accept as binding the following principles of professional practice intended to distinguish cultural property being illicitly traded from that in licit trade and they will seek to eliminate the former from their professional activities. ARTICLE 1 Professional traders in cultural property will not import, export or transfer the ownership of this property when they have reasonable cause to believe it has been stolen, illegally alienated, clandestinely excavated or illegally exported. ARTICLE 2 A trader who is acting as agent for the seller is not deemed to guarantee title to the property, provided that he makes known to the buyer the full name and address of the seller. A trader who is himself the seller is deemed to guarantee to the buyer the title to the goods. ARTICLE 3 A trader who has reasonable cause to believe that an object has been the product of a clandestine excavation, or has been acquired illegally or dishonestly from an official excavation site or monument will not assist in any further transaction with that object, except with the agreement of the country where the site or monument exists. A trader who is in possession of the object, where that country seeks its return within a reasonable period of time, will take all legally permissible steps to co-operate in the return of that object to the country of origin. ARTICLE 4 A trader who has reasonable cause to believe that an item of cultural property has been illegally exported will not assist in any further transaction with that item, except with the agreement of the country of export. A trader who is in possession of the item, where the country of export seeks its return within a reasonable period of time, will take all legally permissible steps to co-operate in the return of that object to the country of export. ARTICLE 5 Traders in cultural property will not exhibit, describe, attribute, appraise or retain any item of cultural property with the intention of promoting or failing to prevent its illicit transfer or export. Traders will not refer the seller or other person offering the item to those who may perform such services. ARTICLE 6 Traders in cultural property will not dismember or sell separately parts of one complete item of cultural property. ARTICLE 7 Traders in cultural property undertake to the best of their ability to keep together items of cultural heritage that were originally meant to be kept together. ARTICLE 8 Violations of this Code of Ethics will be rigorously investigated by (a body to be nominated by participating dealers). A person aggrieved by the failure of a trader to adhere to the principles of this Code of Ethics may lay a complaint before that body, which shall investigate that complaint before that body, which shall investigate that complaint. Results of the complaint and the principles applied will be made public. Adopted by the UNESCO intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation at its Tenth Session, January 1999 and endorsed by the 30th General Conference of UNESCO, November 1999. Last update 18/04/2001 More : http://www.unesco.org/culture/legalprotection/committee/html_eng/ethic s1.shtml International Code of Ethics for Dealers in Cultural Property Why a Code? History of the Code Contents of the Code Advantages of the Code International law on the illicit trade Other action on illicit trade __________________________________________________ The costly destruction of rich history, culture By Andrea Miller April 07, 2003 It's been said that war is the only way to teach Americans geography. And maybe this time around, they'll learn even more -- after all, the U.S. is bombing the cradle of civilization. Not everyone may realize that the core of what was once ancient Mesopotamia is now the modern- day state of Iraq. "Iraq is a country with a long and very rich history," says Richard Zettler, professor of anthropology and associate curator at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. And to a striking extent, the history of Iraq belongs to all of human civilization. It is the birthplace of writing, the site of Ur -- homeland of the biblical Abraham -- and home to great Islamic dynasties. The list is endless, but the tangible remains are not. And with the second Gulf War now in full swing, while humanitarian concerns come first, archaeologists and art historians are also concerned for the safety of Iraq's historical monuments and sites -- the last remnants of the region's abundant, once flourishing ancient cultures. ? The entire country of Iraq is an archaeological gold mine. "There are just thousands of archaeological sites," Zettler says. "There are a lot of answers there just sitting and waiting for someone to find," says Erika Tapp, a second-year art history graduate student. "The thing about archaeology is that you can't recover it once it's gone," says Stephennie Mulder, also a second-year art history graduate student. "All of that depends on stratographic relationships that are completely destroyed." Mulder is referring to the importance of context in an archaeological find. The location of an object relative to others often provides archaeologists with important clues. For instance, ruin mounds -- rife with historical significance -- are subject to use by the military since they are often the only high ground available. Zettler, however, is relatively optimistic given the situation. "Even if you were to hit one of these ruin mounds with a bomb -- yeah, you'll put a crater in it," he says. "But these are big sites, so I think... short of a nuclear explosion, the amount of damage would be relatively minimal." Conflict, however, is not the only cause of damage to archaeological sites. "Farmers in this area use the soil from archaeological sites as fertilizer for their fields," Zettler says. "The simple fact is that the archaeological sites are being destroyed by all kinds of human activities all the time." ? Archaeological sites are one thing. Standing monuments are quite another. "These monuments have lasted all this time because of their special nature -- they were wonders of the world when they were built," says Renata Holod, art history professor and curator at the University Museum. The huge vaulted arch of Ctesiphon is all that remains standing of the famed Sassanian Palace -- yet, it too remains in grave danger after suffering cracks during the first Gulf War. Another site of particular interest is the great palace city of Samarra, 21 kilometers outside of Baghdad. All that remains is the so- called "minaret of Samarra." "These are feats of engineering construction imagination," Holod says. "It would be tragic if they were destroyed." ? Monuments are not only important as historical records. They also play a significant role in cultural identity. "To come in contact with things that you know have been touched and used and seen by people that are otherwise completely foreign to you, it's really incredibly powerful," says College junior Meredith Gamer, who has just finished researching iconoclasm. "Monuments play a key role in rebuilding people's identity after a conflict is over, and that's really the main reason why they're important to preserve," Mulder says. The loss of a site is especially poignant to some when it has religious significance. Take Karbalah and Najaf, two cities southwest of Baghdad, which are two of the holiest sites in the world for Shiite Muslims. ? But the gravest problems may be yet to come. In the aftermath of the first Gulf War, Iraq's thousands of archaeological sites and prestigious museums were ransacked and looted. Some of the stolen items can be found today on eBay. Others found their way onto the black market. "The Iraqi museum holds at least half, if not more, than that of everything that's been excavated in Iraq since Iraq was founded," Zettler says. "If the artifacts and the field records are lost, then everything is gone." Often desperate for sources of income during the tough times of economic sanction, Iraqis loot sites and museums in order to feed their families. Still, cultural organizations have issued various petitions and continue to make valiant efforts to ensure that damage to historic sites and subsequent looting are prevented. They also briefed the U.S. military before the armed conflict began and provided them with a list of the coordinates of invaluable sites. "I hope that after the humanitarian aid, there will be some other type of aid, archaeological aid," says Tarek Kahlaoui, a second-year graduate student in art history from Tunisia. He hopes to be on the first plane over. Mulder, Tapp and Kahlaoui have been spearheading an effort to bring awareness of these issues to the Penn community. At the behest of Jackie Tileston, a professor of fine arts, the trio has assembled a slide show detailing the Iraqi sites in danger. The exhibit will open this afternoon in the lobby of Meyerson Hall. "Obviously, putting up slides isn't really going to stop or change anything," Mulder says. "But I think your average person doesn't really know about the value of this area.... We hope that we can at least begin to educate people to open their eyes a little bit." http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/ __________________________________________________ Laundering Drug Money With Art Martha Lufkin for The Art Newspaper A Connecticut art broker is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to involvement in a money-laundering scheme intended to exchange illegal drug proceeds for art. Two New York art dealers charged in the case have not been scheduled for trial. The federal indictment charges Shirley D. Sack, 74, and Arnold K. Katzen, 63, with conspiring and attempting to sell two paintings for $4.1 million in cash to an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer. According to the defendants, the paintings in question are Amedeo Modigliani's "Jeune femme aux yeux bleus," valued at around $2.5 million, and a pastel by Edgar Degas, "La Coiffure," valued at around $1.6 million. These were seized by the U.S. "Katzen and Sack indicated to the undercover agent that they could resell the paintings overseas as part of the money- laundering scheme," said the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Michael J. Sullivan. The undercover sting investigation, apparently prompted by an informant's tip, was conducted by the U.S. Customs Service and the FBI. The U.S. alleged that the Connecticut art broker, Alan M. Stewart, who pleaded guilty in December 2001, acted in the money-laundering transaction. The defendants face maximum sentences of 20 years in prison and $250,000 fines. Under U.S. law, it is a crime to conduct a financial transaction involving the proceeds or represented proceeds of an illegal activity with intent to conceal the nature and source of the illegal proceeds. The indictment says that Sack and Katzen promoted themselves as fine art dealers who were "capable of selling various works of art to be paid for in cash, as a way to launder money earned through illegal drug trafficking. The pair "offered to resell overseas any works of art first sold by them," the indictment says. One of the acts alleged as part of the conspiracy was the purchase of a cash-counting machine to sort out any counterfeit bills from the millions the pair expected to receive, the indictment says. The conspiracy took place in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the U.S. says. The allegations were supported by an affidavit of a U.S. Customs agent, which states that he had received information about Sack. According to the affidavit, Sack, seeking a buyer for a $12 million painting supposedly by Raphael, stated that she did not care "if the money was drug money, Russian organized crime money or mafia money; she just needed a buyer," and gave the name of Alan M. Stewart as her agent. In March 2001 in Boston, meeting with an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer who showed interest in buying the putative Raphael, Stewart said he could move cash, exchange cash for gems in addition to art, and handle the resale of the Raphael, the agent's affidavit says. Eventually, the deal shifted to the Modigliani and Degas, the affidavit says, and Stewart fell out of the transaction. Meeting with the undercover agent in May 2001, Katzen suggested exporting the Modigliani and Degas out of the U.S. for resale, which could take "six months to one year," the indictment says. Katzen proposed to the agent that they build up an inventory in Europe to be marketed "creatively" and that they establish a long-term relationship in moving "large amounts," the indictment says. To assure the would-be buyer, documents were sent to establish authenticity, the indictment says. The dealers met the undercover agent at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Boston, where they had stored the paintings, and confirmed that the bill of sale was made out to a "straw" company, Universal Investments. The curtain closed at the Boston Seaport Hotel, where in the final scenes of the crime, according to the indictment, Sack and Katzen "unwrapped and displayed for the undercover agent the Modigliani and the Degas," and put the money-counting machine to work, counting $300,000 in cash. At that point, apparently federal agents arrested the dealers and seized the paintings. Sack discussed transferring the proceeds from the resale to an offshore account, the agent's affidavit says, and the dealers explained that the buyer would see a net loss in funds. When the undercover agent mentioned normally paying "10% to 15%" to launder money, Katzen said the works could easily be sold at a 10% discount, the affidavit says. Katzen said he would move the money very, very slowly, the affidavit says, and told the agent he had a client in Europe who was ready to buy the Modigliani "under these circumstances." The Saudi Prince, The "Goya" And The "Foujita" Four people, including a Saudi prince, were recently indicted on narcotics charges in Miami. The indictment cites one of the defendants with money laundering and seeks forfeiture of two works of art in connection with the deal. The oil paintings, seized by the U.S. in New York, are "Bandits attacking a coach" attributed to Francisco de Goya and "Buste de jeune" attributed to Tsuguharu Foujita. Both works are also known by other titles. The indictment charges one Jos? Maria Clemente with financial transactions designed to conceal the source of illegal drug proceeds. At a hearing in Miami in July 2002 on whether another of the defendants, Doris Salazar, should be freed on bail, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Arango gave a glimpse of the government's case. She alleged that in 1999 a drug transaction took place in which two kilos of cocaine were flown from Caracas, Venezuela, to Paris on a private jet owned by Nayef Al-Shaalan. He is believed to be "a Saudi Arabian prince who is not in direct line for the throne" and who was also Salazar's lover and owner of Cannes Bank in Switzerland, Arango said. The deal was to yield about $20 million in cocaine proceeds as Al-Shaalan's 50% share, Arango said. She described Clemente as a Spaniard and banker in Switzerland who was the drug group's "European money launderer" who had been "organizing their drug money and laundering it through banks in Europe and Switzerland." The drug deal was planned on a trip organized by Prince Al-Shaalan to an encampment in the Saudi desert, featuring tents, Humvees [all-terrain vehicles], and "horses and camels," Arango said. In Paris, the cocaine was taken to "a nice villa in the suburbs of Paris," Arango said. A seizure of 190 kilos of cocaine off the Spanish border led authorities to the stash in France, she said. Arango said that two cooperating witnesses were "very involved in," and that Prince Al-Shaalan and Clemente knew "a lot" about, "the art world," saying that "some of their investments were made in art." As a result of a money-laundering debt, the "two paintings arrived in Miami" to repay a drug debt, she said. The paintings were sent "in respect to a money-laundering transaction," which was "related to this drug deal," she clarified, adding that "it was the money-laundering debt that Clemente was repaying." The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration believes that oil paintings are "a way in which drug dealers launder money. It is an investment for their drug transaction proceeds," she said. Telling the court that Salazar might flee if allowed out on bail, Arango said that Salazar had various different passports and a number of original oil paintings at her house. But at a later detention hearing on August 7, Arango said that the oil paintings had been examined and were found to be worthless reproductions. Of the four defendants, Salazar is in federal custody in Miami; Clemente was arrested in Spain in mid-December and is awaiting extradition, either to Switzerland or the U.S.; Ivan Lopez Vanegas was arrested in early February in Columbia and is awaiting extradition to the U.S., while Prince Al-Shaalan has not been arrested. http://www.forbes.com/ _________________________________________________ Burrell Collection painting ruled part of Nazis' stolen art treasures PHIL MILLER ONE of Scotland's most renowned art collections has admitted one of its paintings had been effectively looted by the Nazis in the 1930s and has agreed two Jewish families have a "moral case" for its return or financial compensation. The still life painting, Le Pat? de Jambon and attributed to Jean Chardin, is in the Burrell Collection. Glasgow City Council is to ask the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in London to help pay "reparation". A committee of the council, dedicated to considering the repatriation of stolen art works, has judged in a new report that two unnamed German families have firmly established a case for recompense. This amount could be ?100,000 if proved to be by the French painter, although experts judge the painting was by one of his followers and may be worth only ?20,000. Sir William Burrell, Scottish shipowner and art collector, bought the painting in June 1936 from the German art dealer, Julius Bohler, for ?647.14s. However, an investigation by the city council and new evidence from the families involved clearly show the painting fell into Bohler's hands because of financial persecution of the families by the Nazi regime. Such cases are regarded as "forced transactions", in which the families have a clear right to the painting, or at least financial compensation. The city, which does not want to lose the painting, is expected to pay compensation. It is "reluctant to jeopardise the integrity of the collection by returning part of it". The report compiled by the Repatriation of Artifacts Working Group reveals the families are the heirs of an art house and gallery in Munich. In 1935, the gallery was handed a huge tax demand despite a loss that year, and were forced to sell paintings. A clearance sale took place in Berlin, and included the still life, attributed to Chardin, which was sold for ?560. Bailie John Lynch, the chair of the repatriation working group, said: "I must point out that there is no evidence whatsoever that Sir William knew of the circumstances of the Berlin auction that led to his acquiring Le Pat? de Jambon." The request concerning Le Pat? de Jambon is the only one that the council has received since publishing in May 2001 a list of 232 works of art whose provenance or background could not be fully accounted for between 1933-45. http://www.theherald.co.uk/ ______________________________________________ Police seek missing statue of icon By Gary Klien, IJ reporter San Rafael police are hoping to win one for the Nipper. Nipper, an 88-year-old statue of the famous RCA dog listening to a phonograph, has been stolen from the old San Rafael Improvement Club at Fifth Avenue and H Street. The 3-foot-tall statue, like the building that became the Improvement Club, was brought to San Rafael from the 1915 Pan-Pacific Expo in San Francisco. The statue was part of the Victrola pavilion at the Expo, police said. The San Rafael Improvement Club, which has been undergoing years of costly renovation, has been put up for sale by the Rotary Club of San Rafael, so it donated the dog and other relics to the Marin History Museum in San Rafael, police Capt. Tom Boyd said. But when museum officials went to pick up the goods two weeks ago, no one could find the dog. The museum told police the theft could have occurred any time in the last four months. "It'd be wonderful if we could get it back," Boyd said. "It's a bit of history." Its value is unknown, but estimates range from $1,000 to about $5,000. San Rafael police have already alerted local pawnshops and antiques stores about the purloined statue. The museum, formerly the San Rafael Historical Society, is offering an unspecified reward for its return. "We're confident that Nipper will be returned to the museum, since it's such an identifiable American icon," office manager Lynn Skillings said in a statement. "It's an unfortunate circumstance that we hope will be resolved shortly." The statue is made of ceramic or plaster of Paris. The dog, which is painted white, except for brownish black ears and a black nose, has its head tilted toward the phonograph, as if listening to the voice. Anyone with information can call San Rafael police at 485-3000 or the museum at 454-8538. Anonymous tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers of Marin at 472-2746 for a possible reward. Contact Gary Klien via e-mail at gklien at marinij.com _____________________________________________ Greece Repeats Demand for Return of 'Elgin Marbles' Jenny Badner New York 08 Apr 2003, 12:42 UTC Listen to Jenny Badner's report (RealAudio) http://www.voanews.com/mediastore/badner_parthenon.ram Badner report - Download 627k (RealAudio) http://www.voanews.com/mediastore/badner_parthenon.rm AP Athens is once again demanding that the British Museum return the legendary Elgin Marbles to the Acropolis before the 2004 Athens summer Olympics. Two hundred years ago, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin, obtained the figures depicting an Athenian procession, with permission of the Ottomans, who then occupied Greece. The figures were then sold to the British Museum in London. The Greek government has been lobbying for their return for more than two decades. Now, the Onassis Center for Hellenic Art and Culture in New York is adding its voice to the debate, calling for the British Museum to return the ancient statues, which had been dismantled from a 146 meter section of the Parthenon frieze. Greece's former Ambassador to the United States, Loucas Tsilas heads the Onassis Foundation. He argues that returning the statues will restore the monument that symbolizes ancient civilization. "The return of the Elgin marbles is requested by all Greeks, not some Greeks," Mr. Tsilas said. "What Greece is asking is not that the marbles return simply to Greece, but that the marbles return to a monument which symbolizes the cradle of democracy, the classic civilization, which as a matter of fact belongs to the universe to the whole world." The Onassis Center is currently exhibiting a reproduction of a carving of an ancient chariot race, split in two. The accompanying caption reads: "both pieces, currently divided between Athens and London, should be rejoined at the new Acropolis museum." A model of that $100 million Acropolis museum is displayed, too. Advocates say that the construction of the elaborate glass- walled, earthquake-proof museum for the upcoming summer Olympic games in Athens counters the British Museum's argument that it provides the safest and most appropriate venue for the marbles. But the debate over the fate of the statues is the most high profile in a growing number of controversies with broad implications for the art world. A Case Western University art historian and expert on the Parthenon Frieze, Jenifer Neils, says that in opposing the return of the marbles to Greece, art institutions are trying to avoid setting a precedent for the repatriation of ancient art. "They have a kind of floodgate mentality," she said. "Once you return something, you are opening floodgates and everything will be asked for return. I do not think this is the case, since most of this cultural property was traded and exchanged and sold it is really is a special, case by case basis." The topic is so hot that no curator who opposes the return of the marbles would agree to be interviewed for this story. One art director from a northeastern museum told VOA that he does not want his name used because he worries that if he voices his view, "he will never be invited back to Greece." But in an apparent show of support for the British Museum, 18 of the world's leading museum directors, including nine from the United States, signed a statement, published in the British press last December. The document discourages illegal trafficking of ancient and ethnic art. But it says repatriation should be judged individually, because many objects have "become part of the museums that have cared for them, and by extension, part of the heritage of the nations, which house them." But Professor Neils said throughout much of the world, museums have a national mission. "If you go to museums in Italy, or Greece and Egypt, their museums are not like ours," Ms. Neils said. They are not trying to be universal museums, art museums. They have a different mission, which is to present the culture of their own country." Many countries in Europe, including France and Britain, also require export permits to sell or remove important artistic works and some give governments the right of first refusal. In 1970, the United Nations imposed strict international regulations on the sale of ethnic or ancient art. Onassis foundation director Loucas Tsilis says that the British Museum can resolve the dispute by using the 2004 Athens Olympics as justification for returning the marbles, perhaps as a long-term loan. "The Olympic games are important because, as we will be celebrating these important games in the land of their birth and almost 100 years after their modern revival, it would be appropriate and a very good sign to have an important monument of this era restored to its integrity again," said Loucas Tsilis . The controversy over the Elgin Marbles is one of several repatriation disputes, including the fate of the Pergamon Alter, claimed by Turkey but displayed in Berlin, the Benin Bronzes now in Scotland, and Native American Indian art scattered all over the world in private collections. http://www.voanews.com/ ___________________________________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Wed Apr 9 13:36:07 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 13:36:07 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] subscribers' donations Message-ID: <3E9421C7.14760.B95EA6@localhost> Yesterdays call for sharing the costs of The Museum Security Network and Cultural Property Protection Net services generated a response from 5 subscribers (out of over 2100). A total of Euro 37,50 was donated. It seems there is a high threshold to go to PayPal. I have made this somewhat easier for all of you. At http://www.cpprot.net, and at http://www.museum-security.org/ you will find a clickable button to make a donation. Again: subscription to the mailinglist is FREE OF CHARGE, and donations are not a term to remain subscribed, but they are a condition to keep this appreciated service going.. I do hope all of you realize and understand that there are costs that need to he covered. Ton Cremers _____________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.cpprot.net subscribe mailinglist: subscribe at cpprot.net unsubscribe mailinglist: unsubscribe at cpprot.net All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ________________________ From duncan at neoclassicists.net Thu Apr 10 16:36:29 2003 From: duncan at neoclassicists.net (Duncan Kinder) Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2003 10:36:29 -0400 Subject: [CPProt.net] US lobby could threaten Iraqi heritage Message-ID: <001201c2ff6e$a1d3e860$02010101@duncan> The following article has been published in the British newspaper, The Guardian. http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/artsandhumanities/story/0,12241,93387 8,00.html
Arts and humanities | Worldwide US lobby could threaten Iraqi heritage Donald MacLeod Thursday April 10, 2003 Apparent lobbying by American art dealers to dismantle Iraq's strict export laws has heightened fears about the looting of the country's antiquities as order breaks down in the last stages of the war. After the last gulf war a lot of treasures disappeared onto the black market and archaeologists in Britain and the US are concerned this will be repeated on a much larger scale in the power vacuum after the fall of Saddam Hussein, as happened in Afghanistan. For poor Iraqis the temptation to sell stolen antiquities will be greatly increased if it is known there is a ready market in the west. Iraq, which encompasses Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilisation, is so rich in remains dating back 10,000 years that it has been described as one vast archaeological site. Dominque Collom, assistant keeper in the department of the ancient near east at the British Museum, said today that alarm bells had been set ringing by reports of a meeting between a coalition of antiquities collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), with US defence and state department officials before the start of the war. The group offered help in preserving Iraq's invaluable archaeological collections, but archaeologists fear there is a hidden agenda to ease the way for exports post-Saddam. The ACCP's treasurer, William Pearlstein, has described Iraq's laws as "retentionist", and the group includes influential dealers who favour a relaxation of the current tight restrictions on the ownership and export of antiquities. Dr Collom said: "This is just the sort of thing that will encourage looting. Once there is American blessing they have got a market for these antiquities and it becomes open season. The last thing we want is condoned looting." The ACCP denied accusations of wanting to change Iraq's treatment of antiquities and said at the January meeting they offered post-war technical and financial assistance and conservation support. This week an international group of archaeologists petitioned the UN and Unesco, a cultural education body, to ensure that whatever body oversees post-war Iraq takes steps to preserve its priceless heritage from destruction and looting. They urge that security personnel be posted throughout Iraq at its many archaeological sites and museum storage facilities as soon as possible to halt future thefts. "In the aftermath of the previous gulf war, Iraqi archaeological sites and museum collections suffered from extensive looting, the fruits of which continue to disappear into the international black market for illegally procured antiquities," they say. The archaeologists and scholars want their Iraqi colleagues to continue in or be restored to their positions in museums, archaeological projects, and universities. The Iraqi antiquities authority should be offered the assistance of specialists from around the world to begin restoration and preservation of antiquities that have been damaged and the training of a new generation of Iraqi experts. They add: "Whatever body oversees post-war Iraq [should] be ready to offer material assistance to the Iraqi authorities and any concerned international agency prepared to apprehend and prosecute persons responsible for the theft and purchase of Iraqi cultural heritage materials, and to strive for the recovery of those materials and their restoration to the Iraqi people". Related articles 10.04.2003: Petition to safeguard Iraqi heritage 02.04.2003: The end of civilisation 25.03.2003: Blown away Useful links Threat to world heritage in Iraq
Duncan C. Kinder duncan at neoclassicists.net From securma at xs4all.nl Fri Apr 11 11:01:46 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (Museum Security Network) Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 11:01:46 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] April 11, 2003 reports Message-ID: <3E96A09A.27806.2B797A@localhost> The CPProt.net mailinglist moderator disclaims all responsibillity for the contents of forwarded reports. April, 11, 2003 ____________________________________________ - Up to ?7m likely for Schiele masterpiece looted by Nazis - US lobby could threaten Iraqi heritage - Elgin Marbles: Centerpiece of new museum? ___________________________________________ Up to ?7m likely for Schiele masterpiece looted by Nazis Maev Kennedy, arts and heritage correspondent Friday April 11, 2003 The Guardian A masterpiece of 20thcentury art, which hung for half a century in a public art gallery in Austria before being recognised as Nazi war loot, will be auctioned in June by the heirs of the original owner. The search through museums and private collections across the world for thousands of works of art looted by the Nazis and still missing has intensified during the past decade. In Britain, the Tate gallery has returned one Dutch landscape to its Jewish owners, and the British Museum's trustees are still considering what to do about a claim for four old-master drawings. Dozens more works of art in British collections still have a question mark over them because their history during the Nazi years cannot be established. The painting by Egon Schiele was bought in 1953 by the Neue Galerie, in Linz, Austria, and the proprietors were unaware that it had been stolen by the Nazis in 1938 from the Viennese home of Daisy Hellman, a Jewish arts patron. When it was finally traced last year the mayor of Linz presented it to Hellman's heirs, who plan to sell it at Sotheby's, London, for between ?5m and ?7m. The painting is a rarity: a nearly cheerful picture by the usually gloomy Schiele, better known for his skeletal and anguished, often bleakly erotic, human figures. Over the past 20 years prices have steadily risen for his work. One of his landscapes, sold in New York 10 years ago, fetched more than $9m; two years ago at Sotheby's an early Schiele portrait sold for ?7.7m. The landscape is of Krumau, a town now in the Czech Republic, where Schiele's mother was born. The artist, who died of the 1918 flu epidemic aged 28, often painted parts of the town, and seems to have regarded it as a refuge from the troubles of his life. http://www.guardian.co.uk/ __________________________________ US lobby could threaten Iraqi heritage Donald MacLeod Thursday April 10, 2003 Apparent lobbying by American art dealers to dismantle Iraq's strict export laws has heightened fears about the looting of the country's antiquities as order breaks down in the last stages of the war. After the last gulf war a lot of treasures disappeared onto the black market and archaeologists in Britain and the US are concerned this will be repeated on a much larger scale in the power vacuum after the fall of Saddam Hussein, as happened in Afghanistan. For poor Iraqis the temptation to sell stolen antiquities will be greatly increased if it is known there is a ready market in the west. Iraq, which encompasses Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilisation, is so rich in remains dating back 10,000 years that it has been described as one vast archaeological site. Dominque Collon, assistant keeper in the department of the ancient near east at the British Museum, said today that alarm bells had been set ringing by reports of a meeting between a coalition of antiquities collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), with US defence and state department officials before the start of the war. The group offered help in preserving Iraq's invaluable archaeological collections, but archaeologists fear there is a hidden agenda to ease the way for exports post-Saddam. The ACCP's treasurer, William Pearlstein, has described Iraq's laws as "retentionist", and the group includes influential dealers who favour a relaxation of the current tight restrictions on the ownership and export of antiquities. Dr Collon said: "This is just the sort of thing that will encourage looting. Once there is American blessing they have got a market for these antiquities and it becomes open season. The last thing we want is condoned looting." The ACCP denied accusations of wanting to change Iraq's treatment of antiquities and said at the January meeting they offered post-war technical and financial assistance and conservation support. This week an international group of archaeologists petitioned the UN and Unesco, a cultural education body, to ensure that whatever body oversees post-war Iraq takes steps to preserve its priceless heritage from destruction and looting. They urge that security personnel be posted throughout Iraq at its many archaeological sites and museum storage facilities as soon as possible to halt future thefts. "In the aftermath of the previous gulf war, Iraqi archaeological sites and museum collections suffered from extensive looting, the fruits of which continue to disappear into the international black market for illegally procured antiquities," they say. The archaeologists and scholars want their Iraqi colleagues to continue in or be restored to their positions in museums, archaeological projects, and universities. The Iraqi antiquities authority should be offered the assistance of specialists from around the world to begin restoration and preservation of antiquities that have been damaged and the training of a new generation of Iraqi experts. They add: "Whatever body oversees post-war Iraq [should] be ready to offer material assistance to the Iraqi authorities and any concerned international agency prepared to apprehend and prosecute persons responsible for the theft and purchase of Iraqi cultural heritage materials, and to strive for the recovery of those materials and their restoration to the Iraqi people". http://education.guardian.co.uk/ ______________________________________ Elgin Marbles: Centerpiece of new museum? Greece preparing arts for 2004 Olympics NEW YORK (AP) --The halves of a carving depicting an ancient Greek chariot race interlock on the gallery wall like parts of a jigsaw puzzle. "Both pieces, currently divided between Athens and London, should be rejoined at the New Acropolis Museum," says the caption. Greece is presenting its case for the return of the Elgin Marbles in an exhibit at the Alexander S. Onassis Cultural Center in Manhattan, using nationalism, finger-pointing and appeals to fair play to gain support. The spectacular setting awaiting the treasured sculptures -- if they're ever returned from exile -- is laid out in "The New Acropolis Museum." But like mythical playthings of the gods, these fifth century B.C. carvings may be fated to remain in Britain, their destiny ordained by museum politics. Greece is rushing to build the $100 million New Acropolis Museum to house the Marbles for the 2004 Summer Olympics, locating it next to the rocky citadel in the heart of ancient Athens. The three-level museum will be topped with a glass- walled Parthenon Gallery to display the carvings in brilliant sunlight, just 800 feet from, and slightly below, the temple they once adorned. Innovative and earthquake-proof, the museum aims to rebut longtime British objections to the Elgin Marbles' return -- that Greece lacked first-rate display space to assure the safety of the 480-foot-long section of the Parthenon frieze. British officials are also worried that a repatriation of the Marbles, even on loan, could set a precedent for other claims on antiquities removed from original sites. The Greeks counter that the Marbles belong in their homeland, and they've proposed opening an Athens' branch of the British Museum so the sculptures would be maintained under British ownership. Contacts "are being held at multiple levels -- political, public opinion, between experts ... we do not think the British side has 'shut the door' to communication with the Greek side," said Dimitris Pandermalis, president of the museum construction organization. Finding a place The tale of the 2,500-year-old Marbles -- 17 figures depicting an Athenian procession -- is almost Homeric. The carvings were purchased in 1803 by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which occupied Athens at the time. The sculptures were dismantled from the Parthenon, shipped to London and sold to the British Museum, quickly becoming the most celebrated pieces in the collection. The new museum "offers the opportunity for Britain ... to reunify the sculptures of the Parthenon for this and subsequent generations," Minister of Culture Evangelos Venizelos writes in the exhibit catalog. Until the sculptures are returned, Venizelos adds, "the spaces for the metopes, frieze, and figures of the pediment will remain void -- as a constant reminder of this unfilled debt to world heritage." The frieze formed an ornamental band of marble carvings around the top of the Parthenon. Additional sculptures decorated the metopes -- openings for structural beams -- and the pediment, or portico, on the roof line. Greece will show the remnants of the Parthenon frieze that it managed to keep, along with other Athenian treasures, at the New Acropolis Museum opening for the Summer Games. Other stages of the museum will follow. The New York exhibit, open through April 9 with no entry fee, features elaborate scale models of the new museum, including a detailed layout of the entire Acropolis site, architectural drawings and topography maps. Four priceless relief sculptures in marble dating from the sixth, fifth and fourth centuries B.C. are also shown. The architectural elements will be displayed April 22-May 24 at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London as a part of an exhibit on the 2004 Summer Games and its impact on Athens. However, the marble reliefs won't be sent to London, said Amalia Cosmetatou, director of cultural events for the Onassis foundation. Using light The 250,000-square-foot museum is going up at the southern base of the Acropolis, at the ancient road that led up to the "sacred rock" in classical times under the great leader, Pericles. A 1.5-mile walkway links the archaeological sites in this font of Western civilization. Visitors will ascend through the galleries to the top level, where the crowning gallery is being laid out on the same plane and with the precise geometry and harmonious dimensions of the columned Parthenon. Architect Bernard Tschumi of New York, who won the competition to design the New Acropolis Museum, is using glass walls, skylights and an atrium to bring Athens' brilliant sunlight into the museum to illuminate the sculptures. The principle is demonstrated in the exhibit with a spotlight-with- dimmer directed at the relief sculptures to show how the carved figures become highly visible and then obscure in the changing light. http://www.cnn.com/ ______________________________________ _____________________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.museum-security.org/disclaimer.html subscribe mailinglist: http://www.museum-security.org/formengl.html Invaluable weekly updated listing stolen and seized objects: http://62.173.116.77/trace/stop.asp All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ______________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Sat Apr 12 10:39:31 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 10:39:31 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] April 12, 2003 reports Message-ID: <3E97ECE3.19457.29CAAB@localhost> the list moderator disclaims all responsibillity for the contents of forwarded reports April 12, 2003 _____________________________________________ - Baghdad archeological museum looted - Looters grab priceless objects from Iraqi museums - Iraq - Threats to Cultural Heritage: Guardian article,10th April and THES 11th April 2003 (reports forwarded by Patrick Boylan) - Mosul descends into chaos as even museum is looted - Bring indigenous remains home - Return of ancestral remains from London heralds many more returns ____________________________________________ Baghdad archeological museum looted A Baghdad mob looted Iraq's largest archeological museum amid a breakdown in civil authority following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, an AFP reporter said. A dozen looters helped themselves in ground floor rooms at the National Museum of Iraq, where pottery artefacts and statues were seen broken or overturned, while administrative offices were wrecked. Two men were seen hauling an ancient portal out of the building, and empty wooden crates were scattered over the floor. Upstairs rooms seemed to have been spared for the time being. Iraq, among the earliest cradles of civilisation and home to the remains of such ancient Mesopotamian cities as Babylon, Ur and Nineveh, has one of the richest archaeological heritages in the world. The museum housed a major collection of antiquities, including a 4,000-year-old silver harp from Ur. International cultural organisations had urged that the archeological heritage of Iraq, one of the cradles of civilisation, be spared ahead of the US-led war launched on March 20. http://www.abc.net.au/ ________________________________________ Looters grab priceless objects from Iraqi museums BY AARON DAVIS AND DREW BROWN Knight Ridder Newspapers BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - Gold and silver from ancient royal tombs, a priceless harp from 2,600 B.C., a solid bronze bust of King Naram- Sin. These and countless other artifacts from the collective birthplace of Christianity, Judaism and Islam were left defenseless Friday as Iraq descended into chaos. At the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad, where a tank shell had blackened the museum's ornate facade, Baghdadis came and went through the night by firelight, cradling loot. Broken pottery and overturned statues lined the museum's ground floor and two men were seen carrying off an ancient portal. In Mosul, considered by Iraqis the country's most civilized city, home to Iraq's equivalent of Harvard University, gangs stormed a museum storeroom containing ancient Assyrian and Babylonian stone tablets. A curator held them off, at least temporarily. As news of looting spread Friday, some archaeologists lashed out at the military for not better protecting artifacts from the cradle of civilization. Especially important is Baghdad's national museum, central repository of Iraq's greatest cultural treasures. "They've known the importance of this museum, I showed them where it was. There's no reason this should be looted," said McGuire Gibson of the University of Chicago, one of the world's top Mesopotamia scholars. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Owens, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said he was unaware of any damage to museums. "We haven't targeted anything, nor are we firing at these precious sites," Owens said. Saving artifacts and quelling looting could not yet be the military's highest priority, he added. "We are doing our best to protect our forces. We are still engaged with people who want to kill us." Late Friday, military officials said they could not determine whether U.S. forces were in control of the area around the national museum or whether the looting of it had been serious. Gibson, who has traveled more than 30 times to Iraq, said he met repeatedly in January with Pentagon officials to map Iraq's museum and excavation sites. The meetings were to assure that the sites were spared from coalition bombing. Post-war looting was always the bigger concern, Gibson and others said. Seven of Iraq's 12 regional museums were looted and 4,000 artifacts stolen during the lapse of authority that followed the 1991 Gulf War. Before the bombing began this time, Gibson said, Iraqi officials moved nearly every artifact that could be safely carried from museums and storerooms around the country to the museum in Baghdad. The museum is the largest and most modern in the Middle East. Thousands of the museum's artifacts were wrapped and placed in storage before the war, Gibson said. Some may have been placed in underground vaults. In 1991, Saddam used vaults of Baghdad's Central Bank for safekeeping the artifacts. The protection has proven porous, however. Even under Saddam's tight rule, many of Iraq's treasures turned up on the black market. "I fully expect to see some of these looted items show up on eBay in coming weeks," Gibson said. It may never be known what artifacts have been lost. "If the records are destroyed, we won't know they ever existed at all," said David Shillingford, a director at the Art Loss Register in New York, which maintains a worldwide database of missing and stolen art and artifacts. --- (Davis reported from Washington, Brown from Baghdad. Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondents Mark McDonald in Mosul, Iraq, and Jessica Guynn at the Pentagon contributed to this report.) ____________________________________________ ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 17:50:10 +0100 (BST) From: P Boylan Subject: Iraq - Threats to Cultural Heritage: Guardian article,10th April and THES 11th April 2003 Three articles for information. Patrick Boylan P.S. The BBC Radio news is reporting that the Bagdhad National Museum is at the present moment being "ransacked" and emptied of its collections by looters. Canadian Radio news this morning claimed that the National Museum of Natural History has been set on fire. =============================== THE GUARDIAN EDUCATION US lobby could threaten Iraqi heritage Donald MacLeod Thursday April 10, 2003 Apparent lobbying by American art dealers to dismantle Iraq's strict export laws has heightened fears about the looting of the country's antiquities as order breaks down in the last stages of the war. After the last gulf war a lot of treasures disappeared onto the black market and archaeologists in Britain and the US are concerned this will be repeated on a much larger scale in the power vacuum after the fall of Saddam Hussein, as happened in Afghanistan. For poor Iraqis the temptation to sell stolen antiquities will be greatly increased if it is known there is a ready market in the west. Iraq, which encompasses Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilisation, is so rich in remains dating back 10,000 years that it has been described as one vast archaeological site. Dominque Collon, assistant keeper in the department of the ancient near east at the British Museum, said today that alarm bells had been set ringing by reports of a meeting between a coalition of antiquities collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), with US defence and state department officials before the start of the war. The group offered help in preserving Iraq's invaluable archaeological collections, but archaeologists fear there is a hidden agenda to ease the way for exports post-Saddam. The ACCP's treasurer, William Pearlstein, has described Iraq's laws as "retentionist", and the group includes influential dealers who favour a relaxation of the current tight restrictions on the ownership and export of antiquities. Dr Collon said: "This is just the sort of thing that will encourage looting. Once there is American blessing they have got a market for these antiquities and it becomes open season. The last thing we want is condoned looting." The ACCP denied accusations of wanting to change Iraq's treatment of antiquities and said at the January meeting they offered post-war technical and financial assistance and conservation support. This week an international group of archaeologists petitioned the UN and Unesco, a cultural education body, to ensure that whatever body oversees post-war Iraq takes steps to preserve its priceless heritage from destruction and looting. They urge that security personnel be posted throughout Iraq at its many archaeological sites and museum storage facilities as soon as possible to halt future thefts. "In the aftermath of the previous gulf war, Iraqi archaeological sites and museum collections suffered from extensive looting, the fruits of which continue to disappear into the international black market for illegally procured antiquities," they say. The archaeologists and scholars want their Iraqi colleagues to continue in or be restored to their positions in museums, archaeological projects, and universities. The Iraqi antiquities authority should be offered the assistance of specialists from around the world to begin restoration and preservation of antiquities that have been damaged and the training of a new generation of Iraqi experts. They add: "Whatever body oversees post-war Iraq [should] be ready to offer material assistance to the Iraqi authorities and any concerned international agency prepared to apprehend and prosecute persons responsible for the theft and purchase of Iraqi cultural heritage materials, and to strive for the recovery of those materials and their restoration to the Iraqi people". ======================================= TIMES HIGHER EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT Alarm bells over future of Iraqi treasures Phil Baty Published: 11 April 2003 Academics fear that Iraq's cultural heritage is in danger as an influential group of American antiquities collectors manoeuvre for influence with the planned postwar military regime. International archaeologists and historians have criticised the activities of the American Council for Cultural Policy, which has held meetings with the Pentagon and the US Defense Department about the fate of Iraqi antiquities during and after the war. UK and US scholars said the ACCP's remit to protect the interests of US collectors and dealers was "diametrically opposed to scholarly research". They said that any form of collecting created a lucrative market that encouraged looting and illegal trade in antiquities, destroying the archeological and scientific value of artefacts. "There is bound to be looting of archaeological sites and museums in the period after war," said Lord Renfrew, professor of archaeology at Cambridge University. "We must guard against the selling-off of Iraqi heritage." The ACCP, which has offered financial and technical support to the planned post-Saddam regime in Iraq, denied that it had any interest in Iraq other than to protect its rich heritage. Its critics claimed that the group was seeking to have US laws relaxed to make it easier for dealers to trade in foreign artefacts illegally removed from countries such as Iraq. The ACCP said it had no policy on US law, but some of its members - including its president, New York lawyer Ashton Hawkins - have criticised US law that recently led to the conviction of a leading dealer for handling stolen property. Critics also pointed out that the group's treasurer, lawyer William Pearlstein, has criticised Iraqi laws that forbid the export of antiquities and has reportedly said he would like the postwar regime to allow some exports. Law professor Patty Gerstenblith, a member of the Archeological Institute of America, claimed that the ACCP's goal was to "weaken the laws of the US so that illegally exported and looted objects can be brought into the US and so that dealers and others cannot be prosecuted for handling certain types of stolen archaeological objects". She said that any move to relax laws in Iraq could lead to the legalised plundering of Iraq's heritage. Lord Renfrew said that it might be time to ask questions in Parliament to clarify the intentions of the ACCP in the postwar regime. McGuire Gibson, an archaeologist at the University of Chicago who attended the ACCP's meetings with US officials at the Pentagon in January, was also concerned. He said he objected in principle to the ACCP's activities. "Collecting and dealing in antiquities are diametrically opposed to scholarly research. Any artefact is best left in place... 80 per cent or more of what the object could tell you is lost when it its ripped out of the original context." Mr Pearlstein told The THES this week: "The American Council has never tried to reform either American or foreign law." He said he had spoken in a private capacity about Iraq's laws and stressed that the group was "not a dealer group" and represented legitimate collectors. Mr Hawkins confirmed that the ACCP had concerns about the application of US law, but he said he was more concerned about the wider constitutional implications of the law than about protecting the interests of collectors and dealers. ================================ TIMES HIGHER EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT Say 'no' to Iraqi loot Colin Renfrew Published: 11 April 2003 Any attempt to relax the laws on the trade of artefacts must be resisted, says Colin Renfrew. Iraq is one of the most archaeologically significant countries in the world. The earliest urban civilisation and the earliest known writing emerged in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates. And in the hills of Iraq we have some of the earliest farming sites, going back to 7000BC. Successive Iraqi regimes, including Saddam Hussein's, have been proud of their antiquities and have enacted strict laws to protect them. The country's archaeologists and its antiquities service are well regarded. In the next few weeks, it seems inevitable that some Iraqi archaeological sites and museums will stand the risk of being looted. Such acts can happen in any country where civil government breaks down. It was a concern during the previous Gulf war, when some museums in northern Iraq were looted and the remnants of Assyrian palace reliefs came on the market in London. But there is another threat. There are some who want to see the relaxation of US laws restricting the import of archaeological artefacts, based on a free-trade ethic to make antiquities more available worldwide. There has even been talk of trying to get Iraqi laws loosened after the regime is changed. Iraqi law does sound severe, declaring that antiquities found in the soil of Iraq are the property of the government. That's not how we run things in the UK or in the US. But similar laws are enforced in Greece, Turkey and Egypt, and there is no reason why Iraq should not continue to have legislation of that kind. We do not know the US administration's position on this issue. But the interim government must make every effort to keep Iraq's antiquities in Iraq. Any move to make it easier for their export would, in my opinion, amount to the legalisation of looting. Today, if you want to conduct a dig in most countries, you apply to the culture minister for a permit. All your finds are given over to the state. What you get is the chance to publish your findings and to increase knowledge, not the opportunity run off with any antiquities. I find it astonishing that in the US you can divide museums into two groups. Some, such as the University Museum of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, do not buy unprovenanced antiquities. Others, however, simply do not ask where an artefact came from so they can say they never "knowingly" buy such looted antiquities. If Iraqi laws were relaxed, it would make it easier for antiquities to be exported legally. One fears it would also allow looted antiquities from illicit and secret excavations to leave the country more freely. This would almost certainly lead to a greater scale of looting and to some of the bigger museums or private collectors claiming that this material could come into their ownership legally. If you have a law that says some antiquities can leave legally, you do not have a clear distinction. In the resulting flow of finds from Iraq, it would become much easier to break the law by exporting major antiquities. I am hopeful that when serious people really think the issue through, they will see how outrageous it is that collectors encourage the looting process by buying illicit pieces. The money they pay goes to fuel the process and keep people digging and destroying the sites. The loss of knowledge is not simply in the fact that the pieces themselves leave the country - it is in the fact that sites are destroyed to supply those pieces. The worst scenario is almost unthinkable. I think highly of the professionalism of US archaeologists and academics, and I do not believe that they would countenance this. And there is every hope that organisations such as Unesco would make a great fuss should there be any moves towards relaxing Iraqi law. But there is a fear that some misguided Dr Strangelove character in the US government will take this rather deluded nonsense seriously and be unwise enough not to gain professional opinion from senior US archaeologists. If that happened, it would present a shocking example to the rest of the world. Lord Renfrew is professor of archaeology at the University of Cambridge and director of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre. ======================== ------- End of forwarded message ------- ______________________________________________ Mosul descends into chaos as even museum is looted Luke Harding in Mosul Saturday April 12, 2003 The Guardian By the time Asif Mohammed turned up for work yesterday morning, the ancient contents of Mosul's museum had vanished. The looters knew what they were looking for, and in less than 10 minutes had walked off with several million dollars worth of Parthian sculpture. The 2,000-year-old statue of King Saqnatroq II - one of Iraq's forgotten monarchs - had disappeared from its cabinet. Lying on the glass- strewn floor were the remains of several mythical birds and an Athenian goddess, apparently broken by the looters as they made their escape. "Iraq has a great history," Mr Mohammed, the museum's curator, said yesterday, just hours after Mosul, Iraq's third largest city was officially "liberated". "It's just been wrecked. I'm extremely angry. We used to have American and British tourists who visited this museum. I want to know whether the Americans accept this." It was a good question. Unfortunately, as Mosul descended yesterday into a hellish self-feeding chaos, there were no American troops to ask. The Pentagon had earlier promised that thousands of its soldiers would secure Mosul - a pleasant city of 1 million on the banks of the Tigris - and prevent the kind of mass looting seen elsewhere in Iraq. They would also keep out the Kurds. Since the embarrassing invasion of Kirkuk two days ago by Kurdish peshmerga, the White House had been keen to reassure the world - and Turkey in particular - that it was in charge of northern Iraq. The Kurds would do nothing without US supervision, Washington soothed Ankara. Yesterday it was abundantly clear this was not true. A quick tour of central Mosul revealed there were no American troops there at all. Several thousand were stationed just down the road in Irbil, inside Kurdish-northern Iraq, but they had failed to arrive. The Iraqi government abandoned Mosul late on Thursday night. Just as in Kirkuk, Iraqi soldiers garrisoned in the city took off their uniforms and simply drifted away. Overnight American special forces entered briefly with groups of Kurdish peshmerga. The Americans then disappeared. By midday yesterday - as Kalashnikov fire echoed around Mosul's looted central bank - they still hadn't come back. A huge crowd was trying to help itself to piles of Iraqi dinar. Fights were breaking out. Kurdish fighters were shooting wildly into the air. Nearby, looters were ransacking Mosul's former seat of power, its imposing governorate building, sending glass cascading into the street. However, last night a US special operations team met Mosul's tribal and community leaders in an attempt to put an end to the unrest. Colonel Walter Meyer told the group that US soldiers were being redeployed there from the Kurdish cities of Arbil, Dohuk and Akra. Across the city fires burned from ruined government offices. "I beg you to stop these terrible things," Mufti Mohammed, one of Mosul's leading Sunni clerics, said yesterday, as dozens of worshippers, furious at the self-destruction of their city, poured out of his mosque after Friday prayers. "If some kind of order is not restored in the next 24 hours we're going to take things into our own hands. We will start up our own armed groups to keep the peace." Mr Mohammed said he had persuaded the Fedayeen and Arab volunteers still in the city not to fight coalition soldiers. Now he wished he hadn't bothered. "This is anarchy," he said. Other residents were angry. "Why don't the American troops enter this city? I've spent all morning looking for them," said Ali Sahif, a 34- year-old engineering student. "Everything is being ripped apart." Mr Sahif said looters had wrecked his engineering institute, as well as Mosul University, the hospital and the College of Medicine. He now wasn't sure what to do. Most of the murals of Saddam, meanwhile, had not been damaged or defaced. Perhaps people wanted him back, or at least the stability he represented. Either way, three days after the fall of Baghdad, it was clear that the honeymoon between the Iraqi people and their British and American liberators was turning sour. Mosul has traditionally been one of Iraq's most ethnically mixed cities. Arabs, Syriac people, Armenians, Kurds, Turkomans, Christians and Yazedis -an esoteric Muslim sect who refuse to wear blue - all call Mosul home. But in the end it was Kurdish fighters who poured into Mosul yesterday, to an enthusiastic welcome from the city's Kurds, but a more muted one from everyone else. Their presence in Mosul and Kirkuk has not pleased Turkey, now incandescent at the prospect of a vast de facto Kurdish state on its doorstep. The fighters from the Irbil- based Kurdistan Democratic party had been given orders to defend several key buildings, including the Mosul Museum, with its priceless Assyrian antiquities. They didn't manage to get there in time, although they did secure the natural history museum a short walk away. A Kurdish com mander, Wahid Majid, proudly showed me the dusty toucans and pickled reptiles he had just saved from the mob. The museum's stuffed brown bear was still safely in its display case, he pointed out. "We have not allowed anybody to take anything. We were told to defend the museum and other important establishments." Had he seen the Americans? "They were here earlier but they were unable to control the situation so they left," he said. On the other bank of the Tigris, looters were demolishing Mosul's only five-star hotel, the ziggurat-shaped Nineveh International. It was perhaps a legitimate target: until yesterday an entire wing had been reserved for senior members of the Ba'ath party. Most ordinary Iraqis were too scruffy to venture inside, let alone afford its ?16-a-night rooms. Yesterday they removed all the hotel's bedding and furniture instead. "It is our money. It is our money," 17-year-old Hassan Ali explained. "This hotel has been built with money from Iraq's oil. The oil belongs to us. That's why we are looting." To begin with, the mass collective stealing was good-humoured and democratic, with all of Mosul's different groups taking part. But as dusk set in, the beginnings of what looked like ethnic collapse were all too apparent as Kurds and Arabs wrangled about who owned what. Iraq is a large country with ancient fault lines. Unless coalition forces began to restore order it is in danger of disintegrating. Back at the Mosul Museum, Mr Mohammed sat next to two giant Assyrian winged friezes, similar to a pair in the British Museum, themselves looted by 19th- century British archaeologists from nearby Nineveh. The friezes had clearly been too heavy for anybody to cart off. "I watched Kofi Annan appear on TV," he said. "He said that Iraq had a very great history and civilisation. I'm very sad at what has happened here. I feel pain in my heart." Mr Mohammed recalled that he had had his photo taken with an elderly American tourist who visited. What did he think of Americans now? "I think George Bush and Tony Blair are war criminals." http://www.guardian.co.uk/ _____________________________________ From: "Lyndon" Subject: Govt objects to tests on remains Date sent: Thu, 10 Apr 2003 12:25:51 +0100 Govt objects to tests on remains Thursday 10 April 2003, 6:05 AM Australia will formally protest to Britain over its museums' ongoing experimentation on the remains of indigenous Australians. An Aboriginal delegation that brought back the remains of 60 indigenous people from the Royal College of Surgeons' collection said it had evidence that an enormous amount of experimentation on remains was continuing. The delegation said it was told at London's Museum of Natural History this week that dentists were continuing to analyse its collection of human remains. "Scientific investigations on Aboriginal ancestral remains and biological tissue is still continuing today," delegation head Bob Weatherall said. "The barbaric practice still continues; it has to stop." Indigenous Affairs Minister Philip Ruddock described the past British practice of taking Aboriginal bodies for scientific examination and experimentation as obscene. "In terms of the issue of continuing experimentation, I must say I think it is more the exception than the rule," Mr Ruddock said. "But I will take the matter up formally with my (British) counterpart to make known the concern that exists here if there continues to be experimentation on remains." The skeletal remains of 60 Australians placed for storage in the National Museum in Canberra brings to 750 the number of bodies repatriated from the United Kingdom. ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark used the occasion to take a swipe at the federal government's 1998 amendments to the Native Title Act. He said when the bodies were stolen in the early years of colonisation, Aborigines still controlled their land. "It's a sad moment, I think, that they have now been returned when they've been dispossessed - dispossessed by the 10-point plan and the native title processes," Mr Clark said. Mr Ruddock said he expected a British government working group would next month recommend amending their museum laws which would accelerate the repatriation process. "When that occurs, it's likely that there will be many more collections returned from museums to traditional custodians in the next few years," he said. But Mr Weatherall, who has campaigned for 20 years for the British museums to give up their human collections, estimated another 8,000 bodies remained in the UK. ?2003 AAP http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/10/1049567771387.html _____________________________________ ATSIC Media Release: Return of ancestral remains from London heralds many more returns 9/4/2003 - "They have been absent for a century or more, the remains are not complete, but now at least their spirits have returned," said ATSIC Commissioner Rodney Dillon today at a welcoming ceremony in Canberra for the remains of some 60 Aboriginal people returned to Australia from the Royal College of Surgeons in London. "The trade in our remains was once vigorous and prolonged-it happened within the memory of people still alive," the Commissioner said. "There were those who made a living from taking our remains. Our graves were robbed. Some of us were murdered to order. "Imagine how the spirits of those returned must now feel, their graves violated, their people dispersed and dispossessed over the period of their absence. "And what would they think of the country they're returning to, where their descendants are still second class citizens and their traditional lands continue to be degraded and desecrated? "Today is a happy occasion, but repatriations such as this also stir up powerful emotions. They remind us of the profound sadness underlying many Indigenous lives." ATSIC Chairman, Geoff Clark, and the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Philip Ruddock, also spoke at the welcoming ceremony. "Some of our ancestors have come home and the healing of our communities can begin," Mr Clark said. "Once it was thought acceptable to send my people's remains as 'specimens' to the other side of the world to museums and medical organisations for so-called scientific research. "These practices were not just insensitive but barbaric, and, not before time, overseas and Australian institutions are now starting to make amends." The remains received in Canberra are principally of the Yorta Yorta (Victoria-New South Wales) and Ngarrindjeri (South Australia) peoples. Their repatriation was arranged by Brisbane organisation the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA) which received a grant from ATSIC. FAIRA representative Mr Bob Weatherall accompanied two traditional custodians, Mr Major Sumner (Ngarrindjeri) and Mr Henry Atkinson (Yorta Yorta) on the journey back to Australia. "I congratulate the custodians who have fulfilled their obligations to their ancestors," Mr Clark said. "The remains will be kept at the National Museum of Australia until their final journey home to their communities of origin." Commissioner Dillon, Chair of the Board's Culture, Rights and Justice Committee, has for many years been an active advocate of repatriation. He said he was hopeful this return would be followed by many more. "ATSIC is now working with the Commonwealth and other agencies to take advantage of changing attitudes overseas," the Commissioner said. "In July 2000 our Prime Minister signed a communiqu? with the British Prime Minister committing their two governments to cooperation on repatriation. "A working group reviewing current museum legislation is expected to report to the UK Parliament next month. We hope this report will recommend the necessary changes to legislation to allow our ancestors to be released from public collecting institutions. "In anticipation of this, the Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs has supported the holding of a national workshop to develop cooperative arrangements between agencies and communities involved in repatriation," the Commissioner said. Commissioner Dillon also thanked the Minister for "his presence and sensitive words at this welcoming home ceremony today". "Mr Ruddock understands the importance of repatriation for my community. "However, it is not always recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities want to stay in control of the repatriation of their ancestors. "Communities don't always need to have the process completed quickly, but in a manner which allows the custodians to make the important decisions about how their ancestors will be returned to their country. "We remain injured and incomplete while our ancestors are locked up in museum cupboards or basements far away. Sensitive repatriation will go a long way towards healing the hurts of the past and will assist our people to heal themselves." Source: www.atsic.gov.au _____________________________________ _____________________ http://www.museum-security.org http://www.cpprot.net subscribe mailinglist: subscribe at cpprot.net unsubscribe mailinglist: unsubscribe at cpprot.net All our outgoing mails are checked for viruses. ________________________ From securma at xs4all.nl Sun Apr 13 05:07:24 2003 From: securma at xs4all.nl (CulPropProtNet / MusSecNetwork) Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 05:07:24 +0200 Subject: [CPProt.net] reports CPProt.net April 13, 2003 Message-ID: <3E98F08C.18942.3213D3@localhost> The moderator of the Cultural Property Protection Net disclaims any responsibility for the contents of disseminated reports. archives: http://www.museum-security.org/artcrime.html http://cpprot.te.verweg.com/ unsubscribe: unsubscribe at cpprot.net April 13, 2003 Iraq: Relief and Recovery http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/481546/? On the left hand side of this page you can select: - Education & Culture - Post-Conflict Reconstruction to find many updates on the present cultural situation in Iraq _________________________________________ - Police looking for leads to solve theft from Pittsburg State art exhibit - Egypt: Internet site for stolen antiquities launched - History is being washed away at Taipei site - Gallagher arrested in relation to alleged art theft - Iraq: Art Experts Fear Worst in the Plunder of a Museum - The Art Newspaper; this week's top stories _________________________________________ Police looking for leads to solve theft from Pittsburg State art exhibit By JOE NOGA Morning Sun Staff Writer The investigation into a recent art heist from an exhibit at Porter Hall on the Pittsburg State University campus sometime early Wednesday morning continues as local investigators contact surrounding cities and state for help. "Will be contacting the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and other local law enforcement agencies in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma," said Butch Herring, assistant director of campus police. "What we are doing now is trying to get the word out about the theft and the descriptions of the paintings to area law enforcement and hopefully we will be able to recover them." The exhibit featured 55 pieces of art from two PSU artists, Kale Van Leeuwen, a senior fine arts major, and Michael Lasseter a graduate art student. There are 13 paintings missing, nine created by Van Leeuwen and four from Lasseter. Both men have removed their remaining art from the exhibit. "The bad thing is I had to take down my exhibition. Now I can't share it with anybody," Lasseter said. "This is my last semester. This was to be my crowning achievement, my big, solo graduate exhibition. It is just a bad ending to a whole lot of work." "Just in the last two nights alone they had the showing of this artwork, so there were many, many, many people in there," Herring said. "It is really an impossibility to fingerprint an area like that. Basically, what we are hoping is that someone recognize the paintings and contact us. Herring said that they have started interviewing people about the night in question. "We've started interviewing people who were at Porter that night and interviewing people who were there in the morning," herring said. "We did interview one graduate assistant who was there until 2 a.m. and when she left she noticed that one of the paintings that was taken was hanging crooked on the wall and she straightened up. So we know they were there at 2 a.m." Herring said the custodial staff comes in at 6 a.m. but he said they weren't sure if the paintings were there or not. "But when Ms. Schick came in between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. she did notice the paintings were missing. So we are relatively sure that at some time in between, these items were removed." Herring said he isn't sure how the paintings were removed, but he said he does think that it was a theft of opportunity. "I think it is more a fact of during their showings many people asked what the paintings were worth," Herring said. "The fact is, somebody saw an opportunity and grabbed it." Van Leeuwen said that the value of his art was listed at approximately $2,500. "The bad thing about these paintings is that I can't replace them," Lasseter said. "I can't go out and paint another one like them, it doesn't work that way. One of them was of my parents' farms and I had a deep attachment to it. I have had offers to sell it but I wouldn't." Lasseter said his paintings were conservatively worth about $3,600 and he was offered nearly $1,000 for the painting of his parents' farm. Anyone with information can contact the Pittsburg State University Police at 620-235-4624. To see photos of the stolen paintings go to www.morningsun.net/photogallery. ___________________________________________ Internet site for stolen antiquities launched A new Internet site, displaying photos of antiquities illegally smuggled out of Egypt, has been designed by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). The website will also give detailed information about each item and is part of the Ministry of Culture's efforts to effect restoration of stolen antiquities, said Dr. Zahi Hawass, SCA Secretary-General, yesterday. He stated that a committee, led by Mohamed Abdul-Maksoud, general manager of the Lower Egypt Antiquities' Department, had been formed to handle legal procedures and take executive steps for the restoration of stolen items. The website will aid auction galleries to establish whether items offered for sale are genuine or illegal, enable them to inform Interpol of suspicious items and halt any sales, said Dr. Abdul-Maksoud. He mentioned that the International Governmental Committee to Restore Cultural Possessions to their Homelands, recommended at a meeting held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris last week, that all countries encountering this problem should set up such websites and link them to Interpol. Lists of smuggled antiquities are being prepared for submission to UNESCO, as well as the follow-up of auction house Internet sites offering antiquities for sale, to take legal procedures and halt sales of any suspected items, said SCA director general of restored antiquities, Ibrahim Abdul-Meguid. He added that another list will include antiquities, which have already been restored and these will also be displayed on the websites. (as soon as the URL is known we will inform Cpprot.net subscribers) _____________________________________________ Published on TaipeiTimes http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/04/12/201766 History is being washed away at Taipei site By Chang Yun-Ping STAFF REPORTER Saturday, Apr 12, 2003,Page 4 DPP Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chia-ching has demanded that the city's Cultural Affairs Bureau step up efforts to protect a prehistoric archeological site which now lies derelict on the grounds of the Municipal Children's Recreation Center (MCRC). "The Yuanshan Culture site, which holds the largest prehistoric shell mound in Taiwan, has been listed as a national historical heritage site," Hsu said yesterday. "However, the Cultural Affairs Bureau, which is responsible for managing the site, has left the site barren and untended," Hsu said. The city councilor demanded that the cultural affairs council move to protect the existing 2.7 hectare site, and coordinate with the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to determine the exact boundary of the site -- which includes the shell mound where inhabitants would discard the shells from shell fish they had eaten. To make her point, Hsu led officials from the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Education Bureau, and the recreation center to inspect the remaining relics. The prehistoric Yuanshan culture, which existed in Taiwan around 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, was first discovered by a Japanese archaeologist in 1897. Although the site has been known about for some time, it was not until 1988 that the Ministry of the Interior officially listed the area as a first-degree national historical heritage site. Hu said that according to the Cultural Heritage Preservation Law, the local government is responsible for managing and maintaining historical heritage sites that lie within its jurisdiction. Therefore, Taipei's Cultural Affairs Bureau is responsible for looking after the site. "However, it has been two years since the former director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Lung Ying-tai, inspected the site and instructed the appropriate management work. Nothing has been done so far. The relics site is still deserted," Hsu complained. At the site, artifacts could be seen lying exposed on the ground, apparently being washed away by rain and wind. "The shell mound is especially vulnerable to damage from typhoons," Hsu said. However, the recreation center, which is responsible for managing the site on the city's behalf, is not equipped for such work. "The preservation work of the site needs professional experts to conduct appropriate protection work. The center is not really equipped with that professionalism to undertake the maintenance work,"said MCRC Director Chao Shan-pin. _____________________________________ Gallagher arrested in relation to alleged art theft 12/04/2003 - 11:32:39 am Celebrity Irish chef Conrad Gallagher, who has been accused of stealing paintings from a Dublin hotel, has been arrested in New York. Gallagher was appeared in Brooklyn federal court yesterday accused of stealing three paintings worth $50,000 (?47,000) from the hotel where he once ran a popular restaurant. He was remanded in custody pending an extradition hearing. No date was set. Gallagher?s lawyer, Doug Morris, declined to comment. Acting on recent information provided by Irish investigators, US marshals tracked down Gallagher and arrested him outside his Manhattan bar, called Traffic, said John Sheehan, spokesman for the US Marshals Service. Gallagher, 31, who has appeared on television and cooked for stars in Ireland, left the country last year on the eve of his trial. He has claimed he is the rightful owner of the paintings, according to press reports. If convicted, Gallagher faces up to 20 years in prison. http://breaking.examiner.ie/ ______________________________________ Art Experts Fear Worst in the Plunder of a Museum By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD The looting of the National Museum of Iraq, a repository of treasures from civilization's first cities and early Islamic culture, could be a catastrophe for world cultural heritage, archaeologists and art experts said on Friday. "Baghdad is one of the great museums of the world, with irreplaceable material," said Dr. John Malcolm Russell, a specialist in Mesopotamian archaeology at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Though he and other scholars of antiquities were alarmed by the reports of looting, they were not surprised. They said they feared the next cultural target could be the important museum in Mosul, a northern city that is also in turmoil. The Mosul museum holds many Assyrian artifacts from the nearby Nineveh ruins. Concerned archaeologists urged United States military leaders to take more forceful steps to protect Iraqi's cultural treasures and to restore control of them to the local Department of Antiquities. For weeks before the war, archaeologists and other scholars had alerted military planners to the risks of combat, particularly postwar pillage of the country's antiquities. These include 10,000 sites of ruins with such resonating names as Babylon, Nineveh, Nimrud and Ur. Experts reminded the Defense Department that after the Persian Gulf war of 1991, 9 of Iraq's 13 regional museums were plundered. The Baghdad museum was spared then because the end of war had left the government still in power and policing the city. American archaeologists who studied the looting suspected that some of it was driven by the illicit trade in antiquities. At some remote and poorly guarded dig sites, Dr. McGuire Gibson of the University of Chicago wrote recently that illicit digging in most cases started as attempts simply to find something to sell to put food on the table. "This work soon grew to an industry," he said, "financed from abroad and engaging hundreds of diggers at some sites." The reported museum looting that began on Friday in Baghdad would be the war's first known plundering of Iraqi antiquities. Reacting to the report, Dr. Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, said, "We can't conquer and then shirk further responsibility by allowing anarchy in the cities and allowing Iraq's ancient heritage to be pillaged." Dr. de Montebello complained of the apparent lack of effective policing by American troops. He said that he and other museum officials and archaeologists had already held meetings to explore what must be done "to help the Baghdad museum and Iraqi's antiquities authorities to restore themselves." By chance, the damage to the Baghdad museum came as the Metropolitan was preparing a major new exhibition, "Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus." It is to open May 8. About 400 rare works of art will be displayed, many of them from Iraq, though no works from the Baghdad museum were available. More than 230 scholars of ancient Mesopotamian history from 25 countries have signed a petition to be delivered to the United Nations on Monday. Drafted by researchers at Yale and Oxford Universities, the petition urges military leaders and postwar administrators of Iraq to safeguard cultural artifacts "for the future of the Iraqi people and for the world." American archaeologists said that they had lost contact with their Iraqi colleagues in recent weeks. The last they had heard was that several antiquities officials and researchers had barricaded themselves in the Baghdad museum. They had hidden some of the most precious artifacts elsewhere, and protected others with sandbags. At last report, just before the outbreak of war on March 21, Dr. Russell said that Dr. Donny George, the research director of antiquities who is known for his heft, was seen to be thin and exhausted from the stress of preparing to defend the museum. Of the several thousand artifacts at the museum, Dr. Russell said some of his favorites were the stone birds from Nemrik, north of Mosul. The site, investigated in the last decade, is one of the world's first villages, from about 8,000 B.C. The museum's collection includes a cult vase from Uruk decorated with some of the earliest narrative pictures from the Sumerian culture. The pictures show fields and flocks and people making offerings to the goddess Inanna, the Sumerian version of Ishtar. "That's a beautiful, important piece," Dr. Russell said. http://www.nytimes.com/ __________________________________________________ The Art Newspaper.com http://www.theartnewspaper.com This week's top stories: US ARTS FUNDING IN CRISIS NEW YORK. State governors across the US are proposing deficit- reducing arts cuts of unprecedented severity. New Jersey Governor James E McGreevey?s proposed budget would trim $32 million from the State?s $5-billion shortfall by eliminating the Council on the Arts and the Historical Commission completely, along with a trust for struggling arts groups. This just a few months after the governor vowed to increase arts funding: he and his family recently posed for a ?Discover Jersey Arts? marketing campaign ad. http://81.112.115.148/allemandi/TAN/news/article.asp?idart=10977 SINGAPORE FULFILLS ITS CULTURAL PROMISE SINGAPORE. Singaporeans are painfully aware of their international image and stung by descriptions of their island as boring and, of their government as overly intrusive. Who, after all, has not heard of Singapore?s anti-spitting law? The new branch of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), which opened last month, is part of a massive government arts programme launched 10 years ago partly to counter these claims, but mainly to establish the squeaky-clean island as a credible centre for the arts. http://81.112.115.148/allemandi/TAN/news/article.asp?idart=10975 WHEN CULTURES CLASH .BEATING