Three heists of art, artefacts and jewelery around the world in a matter of months have raised glaring questions about the importance and security the world places on and provides museums – the facilities that maintain our connection to history.
This week alone, two shocking cases of art and artefact theft have come to light – firstly the theft of eight engravings by the iconic French artist Henri Matisse from library in Sao Paulo, Braziland now the Bristol Museum loot, which happened back in September but only came to light on Friday. In the second case, robbers looted a staggering 600 items from Britain’s colonial past. Among them was a statue of Buddha, and among the items stolen was an East India Company belt buckle.
And who could forget the robbery of the Louvre Museum on October 19, when jewels from Napoleon’s collection were stolen in a broad daylight break-in?
Robbery in Sao Paulo
The robbery in Sao Paulo took place on December 10 during an exhibition at the Mário de Andrade Library. The exhibition was held in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo.
In addition to the Matisse engravings that came from his Jazz series, five paintings by the renowned Brazilian artist Candido Portinari were also stolen. Unlike the other case, the robbery here was carried out openly by two armed individuals.
The Bristol Robbery
More than 600 items from what is known as the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection were stolen in Bristol.
However, this robbery did not take place in a museum, but in an external warehouse, leading to the question of insider involvement.
CCTV footage of the four men was released by police on December 11, more than a few months after the theft.
The archives that housed these artifacts were broken into not once, but twice, and most of the items were taken after the second raid, the BBC reported.
According to the municipality’s spokesperson, the police decided to reveal the incident only after an initial investigation and a thorough inspection of the collection items to determine what was stolen and what was left.
ICOM on museum security challenges
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) also noted a dramatic increase in museum burglaries in recent years, saying in a blog post: “Unfortunately, the Louvre is not the only cultural institution targeted by thieves. In recent months, burglaries and robberies, particularly targeting precious metal objects from these cultural and religious institutions, have rekindled the debate.” specific.”
He further places responsibility on museum management, saying that each generation has a duty to “protect collections and pass them on to the next generation”.
ICOM also calls on specialized police forces to deal with museum security.
“Apart from their financial value, the loss of these objects means an irreplaceable loss of history and heritage, which has an impact on society, the cultural sector and the museum community as a whole. Improving the security of museums is a major national and international issue and the museum community is determined to rise to this challenge,” ICOM also said.
