December 20, 2000
CONTENTS:
- Paintings stolen from Melbourne Gallery
- Athens's New Subway System Brings Buried Treasures to Light
- Re: Museum Sleepovers (David Armstrong)
- Thieves walk off with half-tonne statue (Russia)
- Press Release Department for Culture, Media and Sport on accession to the UNESCO Convention (against accession to UNIDROIT)
- more on: seizure of faked paintings in Barcelona
Paintings stolen from Melbourne Gallery
Police are investigating the theft of seven oil paintings from the Danica Art Gallery at Murrumbeena, in Melbourne's south east. Police say the paintings, which were set in ornate gold frames and worth several thousand dollars, were stolen overnight. Police wish to speak to a man and a woman, both aged about 35 years, about the burglary.
http://www.abc.net.au/
Athens's New Subway System Brings Buried Treasures to Light
By DOUGLAS FRANTZ
ATHENS - Few public works projects have stirred as much anxiety among archaeologists as the ambitious effort to ease traffic congestion by building a subway system in this city where civilizations have been layered upon one another for 3,000 years. Fears about the impact of the excavation on the revered monuments above ground and unknown artifacts below stalled the project for 35 years. During those years, traffic and accompanying air pollution steadily worsened, damaging many of the monuments the archaeologists were determined to protect. When construction finally started in 1992, the work was carried out under the scrutiny of 50 archaeologists from the Greek government. Creating the largest archaeological site in Athens history, the experts followed behind the excavating equipment, sifting debris and stopping the machinery every few feet to inspect the subterranean layers for artifacts. Judging from the works that are being displayed permanently in the subway stations and the magnificent pieces on view through next December at the Museum of Cycladic Art here, the shotgun marriage between archaeologists and builders has produced a wonderful new vision of how ancient Athenians lived and died. The museum exhibition, "The City Beneath the City," contains 500 hundred items of clay, bronze, marble, glass and ivory culled from 10,000 objects recovered so far during the digging. Arrayed in a sequence that follows the digging of the actual subway stations, the artifacts trace the development of human life in Athens from the 17th century B.C. to the eighth century A.D., from the Mycenaean period to the Byzantine era. "The finds are not star artifacts, but they are very significant in their archaeological context," said Dr. Dimitris Plantzos, curator of the museum (whose Web address is www.cycladic~m.gr). "They provide a fresh view of the Athenian topography through a long sequence of archaeological periods." From one large site surrounding a new subway station, archaeologists unearthed tombs from 1100 B.C. and statues from the fourth century B.C. Just a few feet beneath the main thoroughfare in the center of Athens, they discovered Roman baths from the third and fourth centuries A.D. Two items on display that approach star discoveries are the tomb of a dog, complete with glass offerings and the dog's collar, and a large stone slab listing the dead from the battles of the Peloponnesian War. The slab corresponds precisely with the account of the war by Thucydides, the fifth century B.C. Greek historian. But the most illuminating objects illustrate how everyday people in ancient Greece lived, traded, debated, fought, worshiped and buried their dead. These lamps, toys, needles, tools, vases and coffins are often homely, but other items are exquisite. A breathtaking bronze head from a statue made in the fifth century B.C. was uncovered from the second century A.D., when the head was recycled and built into a stone wall to ward off evil spirits. While most of the artifacts were discovered while excavating the stations and surrounding areas - sites that were close to the surface and therefore close to where people lived even in ancient times - two huge tunnel-boring machines ground away at the schist and limestone subsoil at depths of 40 to 65 feet, using a specially designed cutter head 31 feet in diameter. The machines operated continuously and progress was slow, averaging about 35 feet a day as the cutters rotated at less than four revolutions per minute. Operators monitored progress through video cameras on the front of the machines and archaeologists monitored what came off conveyors at the rear. When someone discovered something of potential significance, the machine was stopped so that the experts, tooth brushes and tiny picks in hand, could uncover the treasures.
"They moved slower than Charlie Chaplin," Fady P. Bassily, general manager of the metro system, said.
The delays added two years and at least $70 million to the $1.8 billion cost of the project to date, said officials at Attiko Metro, the company established by the government to build and operate the subway system. The project creates a network by adding two lines to an old one whose stations are being upgraded.
Twice, the routes of the new subway lines were diverted to avoid plowing through a cemetery and an ancient bath. One station was canceled outright after discovery of a mass grave of plague victims with nearly 1,000 tombs from the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.
"Nobody overrides an archaeologist in Greece," Mr. Bassily said as he described the painstaking process. "There is no peace with these people. They are fundamentalists."
Not all discoveries were the product of tweezers and magnifying glasses. While digging a trial tunnel near the Acropolis, excavators sliced through an ancient well and a cascade of hundreds of clay jars and shards spilled forth. The jars, which had been dropped into the well as part of funeral ceremonies, were payment to the mythical ferryman who carried the souls of the newly departed along an underground river to the afterlife.
And not all of the treasures are in the museum. Many were incorporated into the design of the metro stations, where they intrigue and entertain passengers and visitors. Glass-fronted cases hold jars, bowls, plates and statues; models known as stratigraphs show the different strata at which life existed in Athens over the centuries.
The stations are clean and sparkling, clad with marble panels and so far, free of graffiti. The best of them Syntagma and Acropolis rival the beauty of the finest subway stops in Paris and Moscow.
The Syntagma (or Constitution Square) station in the heart of the city has one of the most eye- catching exhibits: a grave still in the earth's strata containing a nearly intact skeleton from the fourth century B.C. The tomb is encased behind glass as part of a stratigraph, with the skeleton exposed.
The star of the stations is the newly opened Acropolis stop, just 1,000 feet from the entrance to the famed limestone hill and the Parthenon, the fifth-century B.C. temple of the goddess Athena. Among the station's wares are original items from the excavation, and full-size replicas of the statues and frieze from the Parthenon known as the Elgin marbles. The reproduction of the frieze runs along the subway platform, integrated into the design in the same way the original was on Athena's temple.
Many of the original Elgin marbles are in the British Museum in London. Greek officials have been waging an international battle for their return and hope to get them back in time for the Olympics in 2004. Until then, the replicas are a constant reminder to Greeks of the missing pieces of their heritage.
The new Athens metro system has a practical side, too, and those who run it say it has been as successful as the excavation. The subway was inaugurated last January, and since five new stations on the red line, one of the two new lines opened last month, ridership has jumped to nearly 400,000 people a day.
Mr. Bassily, who managed the Metro in Washington before coming to Athens four years ago, said that traffic congestion had dropped by 15 percent in the city center and the air seemed noticeably cleaner in what was once Europe's most polluted city.
Work is under way on new extensions outside the city center that are expected to yield fewer treasures. Unfortunately, said Mr. Bassily, the construction delays make it unlikely that the line linking downtown Athens to the planned Olympic Stadium on the outskirts will be completed in time for the 2004 games.
Photographs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/19/arts/19ARTS.html
From: dabooks@telusplanet.net
Subject: Re: Museum Sleepovers
The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, runs extensive school sleepover programs. They provide excellent publicity throughout the region, and are very popular. You might want to contact them for information as to the logistics of their programs.
Their website is at: http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/
Sincerely,
David Armstrong, Bookseller Box 551, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
T1J 3Z4 (403)381-3270 dabooks@telusplanet.net
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/dabooks
Thieves walk off with half-tonne statue
Theatre bosses in the Ukraine are baffled over the disappearance of a half-tonne statue. The bronze statue of The Thinker or Sakharov's Head was taken from the Shevchenko Theatre in Kharkiv without any of the staff noticing. The work of art is valued at around £8,200, but the company which funded the exhibition for which it was produced fear it may be melted down for scrap. The statue was manufactured in the early 1990s by a group of artists who based it on sketches by renowned sculptor Ernst Neizvestny, and went on display at the theatre in a highly successful exhibition in 1991. It was left in place after the exhibition by the firm Progress, which had funded its production, because it was too bulky to move. But thieves have now overcome the problem of transporting the statue and Progress have been left to count the cost, Pravda reports.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2-4 Cockspur Street
London SW1Y 5DH www.culture.gov.uk
Press Release
ALAN HOWARTH WELCOMES REPORT INTO PREVENTING ILLICIT TRADE IN CULTURAL OBJECTS
UK
Accession to the UNESCO Convention on illicit trade in cultural property is among recommendations in a report welcomed today by Arts Minister, Alan Howarth. The report was produced by the Illicit Trade Advisory Panel under the chairmanship of Professor Norman Palmer. The Panel was established by the Department in May 2000 to advise on how the UK can prevent and prohibit the illicit trade in cultural objects. The Panel's report contains 16 recommendations including: UK accession to the 1970 UNESCO Convention; a new criminal offence of importing, dealing in or possessing stolen or illegally excavated cultural objects; and Arts Minister Alan Howarth welcomed the publication of the Report of the Illicit Trade Advisory Panel today. The Panel, under the chairmanship of Professor Norman Palmer, was established in May 2000 to advise on how the UK can prevent and prohibit the illicit trade in cultural objects. Norman Palmer said: "I have pleasure in submitting the Report of the Panel to the DCMS. My fellow members and I enjoyed this opportunity to think constructively and in depth about the questions within our terms of reference. Since the licit UK market in cultural objects is the second largest in the world, accounting for 30 per cent of the global art market, it is particularly important to ensure that its integrity is maintained. The Report contains a number of recommendations, some of which suggest continuing action." Welcoming the report today, Alan Howarth said: "Norman Palmer and his Panel have performed the challenging task that I set them quite outstandingly, and I am most grateful. The Panel has a distinguished membership drawn from the worlds of archaeology, museums and the trade. "We benefit very greatly in Britain from a vigorous and honourable market in cultural objects. But we have received disturbing reports of cultural depredation both within and beyond the United Kingdom. It was because of growing anxieties about the illicit trade in cultural objects and the UK's part in it that I established the Panel. My concern has been to ensure that the Government has a fully coherent and effective policy to address problems in this area. I therefore sought the very best expert advice available. These issues were also highlighted during an important enquiry carried out by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee into cultural property earlier this year, and I shall shortly be providing a further response to the Select Committee. "I am very pleased that the Panel has provided an authoritative review of the relevant considerations, and agreed a series of practical recommendations. I note the Panel's recommendation that we should accede to the UNESCO Convention and their view that we can do so without the need for any further legislation. I also note the proposals for a new criminal offence, for there to be a police art and antiques squad with a national remit, for a tightening of the export licensing system, for databases of cultural property legislation and of stolen art and for a campaign of education to raise awareness of these issues. I shall now be examining with colleagues across Government how we can take forward these recommendations, and the others in the Report. "I have invited Professor Palmer and his Panel to have a continuing role in advising us." Notes for Editors The Panel was appointed by the Rt Hon Alan Howarth CBE, Minister for the Arts, on 24 May 2000 with the following terms of reference: to consider the nature and extent of the illicit international trade in art and antiquities, and the extent to which the UK is involved in this; to consider how most effectively, both through legislative and non-legislative means, the UK can play its part in preventing and prohibiting the illicit trade, and to advise the Government accordingly. 2. The Chairman of the Panel was Norman Palmer, Barrister, Professor of Commercial Law at University College London, and its members were: Dr Peter Addyman, Director, York Archaeological Trust; Dr Robert Anderson, Director, British Museum; Anthony Browne, Chairman, British Art Market Federation; Anna Somers Cocks, Editor, The Art Newspaper; Dr Maurice Davies, Deputy Director, Museums Association; James Ede, Chairman, Antiquities Dealers Association and Director, Charles Ede Ltd.; Joanna van der Lande, Head of Antiquities and Associate Director, Bonhams and Brooks and Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, Director, the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. 3. The Panel met on twelve occasions and its work was supported by an Inter- Departmental Working Group of officials. It also consulted a wide variety of organisations and experts in the course of its work and they are listed in the Report (Annex K). The Panel's recommendations are as follows:
PRINCIPAL RECOMMENDATIONS
1. UNESCO Convention We advise that the other measures referred to in this Report satisfy the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and that the UK should therefore accede to it. Accession will not have retroactive effect.
2. Criminal offence We propose that, to the extent it is not covered by existing criminal law, it be a criminal offence dishonestly to import, deal in or be in possession of any cultural object, knowing or believing that the object was stolen, or illegally excavated, or removed from any monument or wreck contrary to local law.
3. Law enforcement agencies We recommend that the proposed criminal offence, whilst not necessitating the introduction of any new system for the general inspection of imported goods, be fortified by appropriate powers of search, detention and seizure on the part of the enforcement authorities and that those authorities be given additional resources to enable them to discharge these powers effectively. We also recommend that art theft should become a reportable offence and that there should be an art and antiques unit with a national remit. We also recommend that consideration be given to ways of expediting the existing procedures under the Police (Property) Act 1897, as amended.
4. Export control We propose that, in the case of objects imported into the UK within the last 50 years for which an individual export licence is sought, the same checks would be carried out as are currently made for objects that have been imported from another EU state. Implementation of this proposal will require additional resources both for the Export Licensing Unit (ELU) of the DCMS and for the expert advisers and we recommend that the ELU be expanded as necessary. We believe that an increase of the order of four members of staff will be needed. We also believe that two of the appointments should have expertise in the particular fields identified for enquiry. We further recommend that the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art exert direct supervision over the monitoring of the movement of those cultural objects which have recently entered the UK after their illegal exportation from an overseas country, by the formation of an appropriate sub- committee.
5. Database of legislation We recommend the institution of a comprehensive and universally accessible database of international legislative information. The database should be run as a service available to all who transact in cultural objects. It should seek to record information about past as well as present laws and about judicial decisions construing those laws. It should, like other modern law databases, be updated daily.
6. Database of unlawfully removed cultural objects We propose the institution of a specialist national database of unlawfully removed cultural objects. The database would cover cultural objects unlawfully removed from any place in the world, whether in the UK or overseas. Access to the proposed database should be prescribed with carefully regulated and restricted levels of access by means of a system of security codes. Differential levels of access could, for example, be extended to police forces, public authorities, commercial entities and private individuals.
7. Code of Practice We welcome the Statement of Principles of Conduct of the UK Art market recently published by the British Art Market Federation. We also believe that the DCMS should take the lead (1) in facilitating the formulation of a statement of ethical principles, which seeks to reflect the interests of all relevant parties: not only trading entities but private collectors, museums and others and (2) in encouraging compliance. This could be undertaken as part of the campaign of education to raise awareness of these issues that we also recommend.
8. Sale of Goods Act 1979 We believe that many of those who transact in cultural objects would profit from greater awareness of contractual terms relating to the sale of goods under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.
9. Campaign of education We recommend that the DCMS should fund and co-ordinate a campaign of education, to include all interested parties, to raise awareness about the illicit trade in cultural objects, as required by the UNESCO Convention.
10. Resources We note that there is likely to be a need for additional resources for H M Customs & Excise, the police and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The two proposed databases will also require resources, as will the proposed campaign of education.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
11. UNIDROIT Convention We advise against accession to the UNIDROIT Convention under the present circumstances.
12. Reciprocity and incentives We recommend that consideration be given to the imposition of conditions requiring overseas countries to observe the proper treatment of their cultural resources. Such conditions might operate through economic aid, export credit guarantees and other economic, cultural and diplomatic exchanges between the UK and overseas countries. In particular we recommend that the Department for International Development should review the UK's Overseas Aid Programme to see whether it contains adequate measures to support cultural heritage preservation and presentation projects.
13. Regulation of the market in second-hand goods We have noted the Special Report of the Parliamentary Committee on the Kent County Council Bill and the Medway Council Bill. These Bills enable the councils concerned to regulate the market in secondhand goods (including art and antiques) in their administrative areas. While we support the aim of these Bills, we are concerned about the piecemeal implementation of such private legislation, because this is likely to result in variations in regulatory rιgimes among different local authority areas. We believe that this could be extremely confusing and agree with the Parliamentary Committee's conclusion that 'the Government should reconsider the case for public legislation to regulate the market in second- hand goods' and that 'such legislation should be introduced at an early stage'.
14. Government Indemnity Scheme So far as national museums and galleries are concerned, we welcome the statement of the National Museum Directors Conference that its member museums do not 'exhibit any stolen or illegally exported works' and we urge that these principles be incorporated into revised guidelines for the Government Indemnity Scheme. So far as non-national institutions are concerned, we note that Resource, which administers the Scheme for non-national institutions, requires all applicants to sign an undertaking 'to take steps to confirm to the best of our knowledge that the owners of items offered on loan have legal title to them and that such items have not been wrongfully taken or illegally exported.' We recommend that this continue and be fortified by such further institutional checks of loaned objects by borrowing and other institutions as appear necessary from time to time. So far as third-party claims are concerned, we note that UK law does not grant immunity from seizure by the UK courts in respect of a third party claim to cultural property on loan from a public institution. Our terms of reference do not require us to examine such immunity and accordingly we do not recommend any change to the present position. We note, however, that the current lack of immunity underlines the need for careful provenance checks when objects are loaned into the UK.
15. Acceptance in Lieu We note that the Acceptance in Lieu Panel informed the principal agents through whom most offers in lieu are made that offers where the provenance gave rise to suspicion might not be recommended for acceptance to the Secretary of State. We endorse this approach as consistent with our general recommendations and we further recommend that the present rιgime be maintained and fortified as appropriate. 16. Conditional Exemption We recommend that the Inland Revenue should require all those who seek to claim tax relief under the Conditional Exemption scheme to complete a questionnaire along the same lines as that drawn up for the Acceptance in Lieu scheme.
The Report is published on the Department's website (www.culture.gov.uk )
Spanish police seize 3,000 art forgeries
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Police have seized some 3,000 forgeries of works by artists such as Picasso, Dali and Warhol in a crackdown that began nearly two years ago. Eleven people have been arrested in Spain and Italy. The works, including engravings, lithographs and serigraphs, had fetched some $6.7 million and had been distributed via galleries and agents in Spain and other countries such as the United States, Germany, Italy and Japan, police inspector Andres Sotero told reporters Monday. "They're very good copies," Sotero said, adding that his Anti-Patrimony Theft Unit began to suspect a major forgery operation was afoot when they discovered a false lithograph by renowned Spanish artist Joan Miro and investigations led to a gallery in this northeastern Spanish port city. After several months of investigation, police moved in on the group in recent weeks and have arrested seven people in Spain, including a man believed responsible for forging the artists' signatures. The detainees were only identified by their initials. Many fakes went to tourists Also Monday, police in Italy said four people had been arrested, including a 66-year-old engraver in whose workshop the fakes were allegedly produced, the Spanish state news agency Efe said. Sotero said hundreds of people worldwide "were still not aware that what they have are forgeries." He said many of the fakes had been sold to tourists visiting Spain, adding that false copies of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe serigraphs and others by Catalan artist Juan Tapies had been sold for some $3,200 each. Other artists whose works were faked included Roy Lichtenstein and Marc Chagall. Police could not be contacted immediately for further comment on the investigation.
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