In a message dated 1/12/02 3:11:06 AM, richard Fields writes:
Has there been reluctance on the part of employees to search bags or purses, and if so, how was this dealt with.
Not at all. I can see where docents might object, but guards do not object and it is not a hazardous duty. I personally stood on the steps of a museum and asked visitors if they objected to having bags searched even if it meant a short delay at the museum entrance and they all said that they had no objection. Some said what I think all of us feel and that is that they want to feel safe in a museum and understand that they will have a price to pay for that safety now.
Point your browser's search engine toward "coin operated lockers" and you will find many manufacturers.
Steve Keller
thefts of ancient and precious books in ancient USSR
Dear Ton Cremers
I am librarian in France and have recently written a paper about the numerous thefts of ancient and precious books in ancient USSR. It has been published in the French "Bulletin des bibliotheques de France" (2001, t 43, n° 6) , and is acessible at the following address: http://www.enssib.fr/bbf/bbf-2001-6/01-lapelerie.pdf Best regards
Francois Lapelerie Universite de la Mediterranee 163 avenue de Luminy - Case 904 13288 Marseille cedex 9 - France Tel : 33-491-829-251 Fax : 33-491-829-276 Email: lapeleri@voltaire.timone.univ-mrs.fr
Answer to query about new German law enacted Nov. 2001 re: statute of limitations
(original message at: http://www.museum-security.org/02/003.html#1 )
Mr Ton Cremers forwarded me your question on the German statute of limitations and its recent amendment. As I have been away for some time the answer comes with some delay. Moreover, being a Dutch lawyer working for the Ministry of Culture in The Hague, I am afraid I can only answer your question on the basis of an article I have read (in german) on the subject and the, and on the basis that the German and Dutch systems - both civil law countries - are very much alike. First, let me give you the name of a person who wrote an article on the subject in "Kunstrecht und Urheberrecht (6/2001)", dr. Astrid Müller-Katzenburg, lawyer at the law firm Clifford Chance Pünder in Berlin. I suggest you contact her for further details as I base my knowledge for a great deal on her article. Unfortunately I do not know her personally and cannot provide you with her address, but this should be easy to find I assume. Hereunder a preliminary answer.
The regarding law passed the German parliament November 6 last year, and is in effect by the 1st of January 2002, and specifies in the new para 197, abs. 1-1, the already existing rule (para 195 Bundesgesetzbuch) of the general 30-years' period of limitation for rights on property of movable goods. The general opnion amongst German lawyers, as I understood, is that this law in fact only expressly rules for the revindication of property of movable goods what in general already existed: a period of limitation of 30 years can be used as a defense by the new posessor to bar the claim of the former owner. With respect to the amendment proposal regarding the new law, aiming at a an exception for claims for revindication of nazi-looted art, this has as I understood not succeeded in receiving a majority in Parliament and was not adopted. Consequently one could conclude that under German law in para 197 - likewise under Dutch law after 20 years - these claims will be barred by the defense that 30 years have passed. However, at the same time a special declaration on the subject of nazi looted art was issued by the so-called Bundesrat stating that whenever culturalgoods that were looted from nazi victims, and their former owners, can be identified, these should be returned to these former owners. Moreover, the Bundesrat announced that the Government should as soon as possible come to a decision on the question if a special regulation on nazi-looted art is necessary.
I hope I have helped you further in your search. In my function of legal adviser at the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage, I am very interested in other national regulations on the subject of nazi-looted art claims. As I understood you have written an article on the subject. Could I ask you to inform me where and how I could obtain a copy? You can reach me from monday the 21st of January at the Inspectorate in The Hague.
Yours sincerely,
Evelien Campfens legal adviser Inspectorate of Culural Heritage Ministery of Culture The Hague, The Netherlands tel. +31-70-2038125 e-mail campfens@cultuurbezit.nl
HUNDREDS OF MISSING OBJECTS: LOOTING IN WEST BENGAL, INDIA
That Chandraketugarh, located at about 25 miles north-east of Calcutta, was a potential archaeological site, has been known to South Asian scholars, more or less from the beginning of the 20th century. From the mid-1950’s until the mid- 1970’s however extensive archaeological excavations were undertaken. Much of the excavated materials are said to be in an “unprocessed” condition, after they had been stored in the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art in Calcutta. The materials, which have been found, cover a period from 600 BC until 1250 AD. The excavations show that the inhabitants of Chandraketugarh were living in a well-developed urban situation. Besides ruins of private houses, a temple complex and a rampart, a treasure of potteries, terracotta figurines, ivory, wood and bronze sculptures, seals, sealing, coins etc. have been found. Some of them are of great historic and aesthetic value. Surface finds from before and after the official explorations, as well as those from clandestine diggings, can be found both inside and outside India. In Chandragetugarh: A Treasure-House of Bengal Terracottas archaeologist and founder of the Bangladesh National Museum, Enamul Haque, has collected 963 items, mostly reddish brown terracotta sculptures, which are either in museums or private collections in the Western world or in India. He either visited the museums and collectors himself and made photographs of the objects, or their owners were willing to send photographs to him. In this volume he mentions specifically the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum of New York, Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts of Hawaii, Victoria and Albert Museum of London, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Ashmolean Museum of Oxford, Museum of Indian Art of Berlin, Linden Museum of Stuttgart and a number of private collections. The author praises the Bengal artists’ precision, the pronounced absence of the realistic presentations of arms and weapons, and the purity, grace and divinity of the feminine sculptures. He concludes: “The fact cannot be overlooked that most of the terracotta’s included in the present study have been obtained from clandestine sources”. Enamul Haque’s book easily can be included in the ICOM series of One Hundred Missing Objects.
Enamul Haque Chandraketugarh: A Treasure-House of Bengal Terracottas The International Centre for Study of Bengal Art, Dhaka, Bangladesh ISBN 984-814-002-6 Taka 2,500, US$ 50 E-mail bengalart@pradeshta.net