June 25, 2002

CONTENTS:




- Culture sleuths make strides on the trail of stolen treasures
- Russia's Hermitage museum returns stained-glass panels looted during WWII to Germany
- Detenidos dos de los ladrones de los cuadros de Esther Koplowitz

Culture sleuths make strides on the trail of stolen treasures

By DONNA BRYSON
Monday, June 24, 2002 – Print Edition, Page R4
CAIRO, EGYPT -- A lot has changed in the 15 years since a trove of ancient treasures disappeared from a southern Egyptian warehouse. Courts around the world are beginning to recognize the ownership claims Egypt and other countries make on what they see as their cultural heritage, even when the claims are challenged by powerful collectors and dealers who say they go against long-standing assumptions about property rights. "Things are improving," says Torkom Demirjian, owner of Ariadne Galleries in New York and a 30-year veteran of the antiquities trade. "My organization is pro-preservation. We don't like to encourage clandestine digs. When we see something we believe is stolen, we will report it to the proper authorities." Demirjian and other dealers use Art Loss Register, a company that tracks stolen antiquities, to check items offered for sale. When a dealer in The Hague asked the London-based company what it knew about an Egyptian relief he'd been offered, Art Loss found an Interpol report in its computerized archives listing the statue as stolen. It was part of the stolen warehouse trove -- a block of yellow stone with a carving of King Amenhotep III. The 18th-dynasty pharaoh was depicted kneeling in profile, his toes splayed like the petals of a lotus flower over a row of hieroglyphs. The statue was returned to Egypt in May. Art Loss didn't even exist when the carving disappeared -- the company was formed in 1991 by auction houses, art-dealer organizations, insurers and a non-profit art foundation. Julian Radcliffe, chairman of the company, said he has seen a slow but perceptible increase in interest in his pay-for-search service over the past decade. Zahi Hawass, who holds the top archeological job in the Egyptian government as chief of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, is digging out descriptions of the other 54 pieces. Encouraged by the Amenhotep discovery, he wants to circulate the descriptions among dealers and museums. The challenge remains enormous, though. Interpol, the international police network, says it is impossible to track the volume of trade in stolen antiquities because so much of it is so far underground. Some pieces disappear straight from digs, before anyone can catalogue them, and into the hands of collectors who never risk showing them publicly. But many involved in the study and preservation -- and the buying and selling -- of ancient art say that although the change is likely to be slow and fitful, it has begun. In what often is portrayed as a clash of art and scholarship versus commerce, those who deal in antiquities are cast in the villain's role. The art auction house Christie's cautions that it's not that simple. "Private collections have often later become the core of public museums, and . . . private collectors continue to donate and lend pieces to museums. Most also allow access to the scholarly community," Christie's said in a statement from its New York offices. There was a time, Radcliffe said, when virtually the only interest of art collectors and dealers was whether a piece was genuine. Questions about provenance -- the trail of ownership -- were considered too complex to address or to be of concern. "They really couldn't have cared less who owned it," Radcliffe said. Today, they are being forced to care, partly because of the efforts of government officials such as Hawass, who argues that to keep ancient art away from the country of its origin is "to destroy the culture of a country." Hawass, well known in his previous position as the media-savvy curator of the Sphinx and Great Pyramid complex outside Cairo, took his new job in March with a characteristic splash. He sent letters to museums around the world informing them he was establishing a department to track missing antiquities. "We expect that your museum will be most circumspect when acquiring any new ancient Egyptian pieces," he said in the letter. Despite the stern tone, Hawass said he doesn't expect a fight. "I seek their help, and they will help. I believe they live, as we do, to protect Egyptian monuments." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Russia's Hermitage museum returns stained-glass panels looted during

WWII to Germany Mon Jun 24, 9:29 AM ET
MOSCOW - Russia's Hermitage museum on Monday returned a set of 14th century stained- glass panels from an eastern German church in the latest exchange between the two countries of art looted during World War II. The panels from the Marienkirche in the city of Frankfurt an der Oder were taken by the Soviet army at the end of World War II and brought to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in August 1946. The 111 panels, which form part of the church altar that rises 20 meters (65 feet) high, were among the most sought after items for return by Germany because the church is marking its 750th anniversary next year. Both houses of the Russian parliament had passed a law providing for the panels' return in April. Each of the panels is one square meter (10.75 square feet), used to form three large windows of the church, said Hermitage spokeswoman Larisa Aerova. "The Hermitage offered to start the restoration process itself, but the German side preferred to do all the work," Aerova said. On Saturday, Germany handed back to Russia seven czarist-era paintings that Nazi troops had looted during the war in a ceremony attended by culture ministers from both countries on the 61st anniversary of German troops invading Soviet territory. Russia and Germany have accelerated exchanges of looted art under the good relationship formed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Russia has proclaimed art seized from German state ownership as retribution for the damage the Soviet Union suffered in the war, which left some 27 million Soviet citizens dead. http://story.news.yahoo.com/

Detenidos dos de los ladrones de los cuadros de Esther Koplowitz

FERNANDO LAZARO
MADRID. La Policía Nacional, en una operación coordinada con otras policías europeas a través de Interpol, ha logrado detener a dos de los autores del robo de los 17 cuadros sustraídos el pasado 8 de agosto del domicilio de la empresaria Esther Koplowitz. Además, según informó el propio vicepresidente primero del Gobierno y ministro del Interior, Mariano Rajoy, se han logrado recuperar 10 de las 19 obras sustraídas. Entre los cuadros recuperados se encuentran obras de Goya, Sorolla, Gutierrez-Solana y Anglada Camarasa. Entre las obras robadas había algunas especialmente célebres, como los cuadros de Goya La caída del burro y El columpio, así como Las tentaciones de San Antonio, de Brueghel, y Al baño, Valencia. Según explicaron a EL MUNDO fuentes policiales, los detenidos son Angel Suárez, Casper, y otro conocido como Sapiella. Ambos fueron capturados en Madrid el pasado sábado por la tarde cuando intentaban vender las obras robadas en el domicilio de la conocida empresaria. Según explicaron estas mismas fuentes, ambos habían tenido ocultos las obras recuperadas en varios pisos de Madrid desde que el pasado 8 de agosto lograron robarlas. No obstante, los efectivos policiales no dan por cerrada la operación.Aún quedan por recuperar varios cuadros y los investigadores tienen claro que ambos detenidos tenían más cómplices en esta operación. Por este motivo, el dispositivo policial continúa abierto y se confía en poder recuperar las obras que aún faltan. Tanto Casper como Sapiella son delincuentes comunes, con antecedentes penales por robo. Los agentes les consideran expertos en el método del robo por butrón en entidades financieras. Las fuentes consultadas por este periódico indicaron que los ladrones tenían muy difícil poner en el mercado las obras robadas ya que eran muy conocidas y se detectaría su intención. De hecho, su captura se produce justo en el momento en que tratan de venderlas.

Detenidos en diciembre

Ambos ya fueron detenidos como sospechosos de haber participado en este robo el pasado mes de diciembre. En aquella fecha, la policía capturó a seis personas, entre ellas los dos detenidos de ayer y un guardia de seguridad de la residencia asaltada.Sin embargo, la juez de instrucción decidió ponerlos en libertad tras tomarles declaración. Faltaba la pieza más importante: los cuadros robados. Ahora la Policía Nacional ha logrado recuperar parte del robo cuando se encontraba en manos de los detenidos. Casper, además, fue investigado por su presunta implicación en el intento de asesinato del polémico abogado José Emilio Rodríguez Menéndez. Sin embargo, fue absuelto por la Audiencia Provincial de Madrid de un delito de encubrimiento. Como ya adelantó EL MUNDO el pasado mes de diciembre, la clave para identificar a los autores del robo fue el minucioso seguimiento y vigilancia realizados por los investigadores de los integrantes del dispositivo de seguridad privada que había en la vivienda de la empresaria. Fruto de esos seguimientos la policía logró conectar a Casper con estos hechos e identificar a otros sospechosos. http://www.elmundo.es/