June 10, 2002

4 ancient idols recovered in Jhabua

PTI [ SATURDAY, JUNE 08, 2002 5:19:19 PM ]
JHABUA: Four ancient idols made of "ashtadhatu," which were stolen on March 9 from a Jain temple at Bagh in neighbouring Dhar district, have been recovered by police from three persons. The three--Gurudayal Singh, Pritam Singh and Nanak Singh, were arrested and subsequently produced before a local court which remanded them to seven days' police custody, district superintendent of police R L Borna said here on Saturday. According to Borna, one of the idol weighing 1.15 kg is believed to be 700-year-old while the other three were 20-30 years old.
Police has requisitioned the services of archaeological experts to ascertain the idols' importance, he said, adding, a reward of Rs 1,000 was also given to the police informer who provided clue leading to the arrest of three persons http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Possibility of Stolen Dipankar Idol's Return Feeble

By Razen Manandhar
The Kathmandu Post (Kathmandu, Nepal)
Saturday, June 8, 2002
KATHMANDU, June 7 : The return of a 293 year-old head image of Dipankar Buddha, stolen from Patan four months ago, and recovered recently in an Austrian museum, is less likely soon as concerned authorities have shown lukewarm response to the pressure from the local guthi members to bring it back. A source in Austria suspects that it reached there through legal channel, though Nepali law strictly forbids export of any 100 plus year-old cultural objects. He, requesting anonymity, claimed in his letter dispatched to a local Buddhist scholar that it was "exported ‘legally’ with all the seals from the National Archives". The 1.2 metre high idol of gilded copper with precious stones and ornaments was stolen mysteriously from Chuka Baha Guthi House on February 16, as it was reported by the caretaker Sanu Chhori Shakya and was seen in public for the last time in August 2001, the guthi members said. Being a state party of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, UNESCO 1970, Nepal holds rights to claim its any antique artifact that is culturally significant to the local community. However, the Austrian Government has shown interest to return that idol after it found being sold to the museum. "The idol has been confiscated and the government is ‘very much’ interested to return it to Nepal soon. It is now waiting for a formal request from the Nepal Government to return it," said an Austrian expatriate, currently living in Kathmandu. The idol was unexpectedly found in Ethnographic Museum in Vienna a month ago, with the help of a German Buddhist scholar who had been to a Patan festival where the head image was exhibited last year. The idol was to be sold to the museum at Rs 13.65 million (182,000 US dollars) by a person claiming to be an international art dealer. Currently, the idol is under protection of the museum. Sanunani Kansakar, the director general of Department of Archaeology (DOA), the government body to conserve any cultural object over 100 years old, said that it has already forwarded the request letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to initiate process to bring the image back to Nepal. But an officer at DOA, requesting anonymity, said that it is yet to be verified that the idol is the same stolen from Patan. "We can’t verify it by only looking at two photographs and there is no inventory of the existing or stolen art objects in DOA," he said. And Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent the documents to the Nepali ambassador in charge of Vienna, who lives in Berlin. It is not yet clear whether the documents sent were complete or not. Meanwhile, a news dispatch form German news agency DPA stated that "There would be inquires into the route by which the Buddha-head had been smuggle to Austria." Heritage experts here suspect that the government officers prefer to remain silent, as claiming the idol would stir hornet’s nest. "In fact the government officers do not want to claim them as it would mean revealing the chain of smugglers. That is why, Nepal has not claimed a single stolen idol found in overseas though Nepal has signed international conventions on this regard 30 years ago," said Keshav Raj Jha, the former ambassador to France and representative to UNESCO. However, Min Bahadur Shakya, chairman of the Nagarjuna Institute of Buddhist Studies, said that he would do his best to bring back the Dipankar at any cost, even to set an example. He was the first one to get the information about he finding of the idol in Austria. "The return of the Dipankar would set an example and may also raise a curtail on the racket of antique smugglers." The locals filed an application at DOA on May 8 to accelerate the process. And they have also sent a request letter to Interpol unit of Vienna.

Churches fall victim to rising wave of drug-driven thefts By Sophie Goodchild Home Affairs Correspondent
09 June 2002
Britain's churches are falling victim to a new wave of drug crime which has led to a record number of thefts.
The latest figures from National Churchwatch, which tackles crime against churches, show there were more than 5,000 reported thefts in 2001. This figure has been rising steadily and contrasts with only 42 reported thefts from museums in the same year. Figures from Ecclesiastical Insurance, which covers more than 14,000 churches, show theft claims exceeded £1.4m last year, a figure expected to rise this year. Police say churches are being hit by people financing drug habits. In one case a drug dealer was arrested after an antique chair he first claimed was a family heirloom was found to have a church security mark on the base.
Heritage campaigners want the Government to form a special police force to combat ecclesiastical theft. In Hampshire alone, there have been 143 burglaries over the past three months with churches affected in Andover, Basingstoke and the New Forest. Police believe 33 of the raids were by one gang. There have also been similar raids in Wiltshire and Somerset. Thousands of churches now use glued microdots on furniture coded with a PIN number and readable by ultra-violet scanners. Church antiques are valuable; a painting worth £60,000 was taken from a church in Box, Wiltshire. But Nick Tolson, who runs National Churchwatch, said churchwardens often did not know the value of church relics. Two years ago, a valuable replica of an Anglo-Saxon treasure called the Alfred Jewel, a piece of rock crystal set in gold and enamel, was stolen from the Church of St Mary the Virgin, in North Petherton, in Somerset. The jewel was not recovered but Asprey's, the jewellers, made a replacement.Now CCTV cameras scan the goings-on at St Mary's and volunteers sit in the church. "People used to think the eye of God was watching them, but that is no longer the case," said the Reverend Sue Rose.
http://news.independent.co.uk/

British Museum to Close as Staff Votes to Strike

Sat Jun 8, 7:20 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - The British Museum will close on June 17 as staff hold the first of a series of threatened strikes at the major tourist attraction. The members of the Public and Commercial Services Union and Prospect are protesting against planned cuts of nearly 15 percent to the museum's workforce. "I'm not surprised at all. I obviously don't endorse what they'll be doing. I regret their decision. I do understand their frustration, the Director of the British Museum, Dr. Robert Anderson, told the BBC. "They do believe very strongly in the museum and they do believe that by drawing attention to ourselves in this sort of way we will ultimately benefit," he said.
A statement from the union representing workers at the central London attraction said 85 percent of the 750 staff who voted in a ballot on Friday backed action, beginning with a 24-hour strike later this month. The statement said the museum was aiming to save 6.5 million pounds to make up for fall in visitor numbers due to last year's foot- and-mouth (news - web sites) crisis, the costs involved in running the new central court and a cut in government funding. "National treasures will be hidden away from the public, galleries will be closed off and less school children will be educated in the British Museum if the government does not accept that world-class museums cannot be funded by gift shops and cafes alone," the union statement said. Anderson agreed that the museum's problems stem in large measure from the sharp decline in the number of tourists visiting and said he thought that the outlook for Britain's museum and galleries was bleak. "Many arts organizations are on a knife edge. It is getting more and more difficult. We are going to find that life gets tougher as time goes on," he said. The museum, which houses important collections of Egyptian and classical sculptures and artifacts, has maintained a free entrance policy despite financial difficulties.

The Art Newspaper.com

This week's top stories:

IRAN’S GLASNOST

TEHERAN. When President George W. Bush condemned Iran as being on an “axis of evil with Iraq and North Korea” it is unlikely he knew that Iran’s President, Mohammed Khatami is profoundly interested in aesthetics and in the role art and culture can play in opening up his country to the rest of the world. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9599

HOW DID THE VILLA OF THE PAPYRI GET INTO THIS STATE?

NAPLES. This is the shocking story of how one of the largest and richest Roman villas ever discovered was allowed to degenerate into a massive dumping site for rubbish while weeds ravaged the ancient mosaic floor, holes in the plastic roof left it exposed to rain, and rising water levels blocked access to the site. To digest it well requires an understanding of the murky working conditions in Southern Italy. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9598

ARTISTS AND ADMINISTRATORS DO BATTLE ON PICCADILLY

LONDON. The Royal Academy (RA) is at a turning point, with the departure of Secretary David Gordon next month. At issue is whether artists or administrators should run the public side of the organisation, now that it has been transformed into a £20 million-a- year business, putting on world-class exhibitions. With the RA about to embark on a £50 million project to take over 6 Burlington Gardens, the former Museum of Mankind building, the debate has added urgency. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9597

MOMA MOVES FROM MANHATTAN

NEW YORK. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is now closed for redevelopment and expansion until 2005. When it decided to make Queens its temporary home, the curators knew it was going to be a challenge to get traditionally insular Manhattanites across the river. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9596

ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON: INSIDER INTERVIEW

LONDON. Norman Rosenthal has been Exhibitions Secretary of the Royal Academy for 25 years, and during that time he has built up its programme to make it one of the finest venues in the world. Attracting one million visitors a year, its shows span the entire spectrum of art—from “Sensation” (the controversial 1997 show on contemporary art) to “Aztecs” (opening on 16 November). Mr Rosenthal has a reputation for speaking his mind, as he did when he talked with The Art Newspaper. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9595

UGLY FENCING

VENICE. The three flagstaffs in St Mark’s Square with their elaborate pedestals cast in bronze by Alessandro Leopardi in 1505, are used to hoist the tricolour flag of Venice, bearing the winged lion of St Mark. Leopardi’s bas-reliefs on the central standard portray justice and the elephant, symbols of the prudence and strength of good government. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9594

GOVERNMENT POLICY, GERMANY: FEDERAL CULTURE FOUNDATION OPENS

HALLE AN DER SAALE. Germany’s long-planned Kulturstiftung des Bundes, (Federal Cultural Foundation), has finally opened; previously all German cultural matters were delegated to the various Länder (regional States). http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9593

HOW THE FRENCH LOVE THEIR GRANDS PROJETS!

PARIS. Jean-Jacques Aillagon, France’s new Minister of Culture, inherits a whole litany of ongoing projects which it will be his responsibility to bring to a conclusion. In his first term as president Jacques Chirac set an impressive number of “grands projets” in train, most of them in Paris, despite demands for the decentralisation of culture. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9592

MONASTERY AND WORK LEFT TO DECAY SINCE WORLD WAR II

DOUAI. The town of Douai, in northern France, was ravaged by bombing in World War II. Its museum was largely destroyed but not before much of its collection was moved to the buildings of a former Carthusian monastery. The sculpture collection was housed in the 18th-century church and left to the elements, until some pieces were so encrusted with dirt that it was difficult to distinguish marble from bronze. Now the church and sculpture collection, with works by Carpeaux and Rodin, and pieces dating from the Middle Ages, have been restored and are open to the public. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9591
---------------
Anna Somers Cocks, Editor
contact@theartnewspaper.com
The Art Newspaper
70 South Lambeth Road London SW8 1RL UK
tel +44(0)207 735 3331 fax +44(0)207 735 3332
http://www.theartnewspaper.com