Date sent: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 22:28:39 -0500
----- Original Message ----- From: "Museum Security Network" securma@xs4all.nl Subject: To lock down or not to lock down?
Questions to help clarify the original query...
1. Are you trying to lock "bad" actors out, or keep "good" patrons in, or both?
2. Can a "lockdown" be in conflict with your fire/life safety obligations & responsibilities, especially in view of a potential/foreseeable (primary or secondary) incendiary incident?
3. Do you have a contingency plan in place for dealing with an "active shooter/bomber" scenario?
Ken Vail Risk Management Consultant
Missing Van Eyck Still Holds Attention
Wed Nov 27,12:30 PM ET
By RAF CASERT, Associated Press Writer
GHENT, Belgium (AP) - Even though the painting has not been seen since 1934, it is becoming more popular by the day. It is almost 70 years since the disappearance of a panel scarred one of Western art's defining works. Now, the theft of Jan Van Eyck's "Just Judges" is taking on ever more mythic proportions. The mystery only increased after a much publicized hunt for the highlight of Flemish primitive painting ended in disappointment last month when a secret cache in a church in northern Belgium turned out to be empty. "It is our monster of Loch Ness," said author Patrick Bernauw, who has written a book on the audacious theft. "When it wasn't found last month, the myth just reinforced itself a little bit more." The search captured front pages throughout Belgium and beyond and the probe in the church was carried live on radio. Television broadcasts opened their news on location and a Web site set up to highlight the discovery crashed under the weight of 75,000 hits a day. For decades, a determined bunch of die- hard amateur detectives has picked up where police left off many years ago. For many, the concept is just too enticing: It unites a stupendous piece of art and a great detective story. The 20-panel "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," completed in 1432, offers a translucent use of color created by layer upon layer of oil and intricate detail and mystical meaning which set an example for generations of artists. The "Just Judges" panel depicts 10 men on horseback on their way to venerate the Holy Lamb. It highlights what made Van Eyck famous — beautiful light, intricate details and composition.
The panel was stolen along with a lesser panel on April 10, 1934, from the Saint Bavo Cathedral. Soon after, extortion letters sent to the bishop of Ghent demanded $25,000. Any sleuth who could solve the crime would become an instant hero, a savior of a piece of national heritage. Retired cab driver Gaston De Roeck was convinced this summer that he would become that hero. He boldly proclaimed on his Web site he knew where the "Just Judges" panel of Van Eyck's "Adoration" was hidden. Like so many before him, he had intimately studied the life of the presumed thief, Arsene Goedertier, a local stockbroker who collapsed from a stroke seven months after the theft and uttered his last famous words: "Only I know where the 'Adoration' is ..." De Roeck dissected the 13 extortion letters for $25,000 in ransom, a huge sum at the time, which were sent to the local bishop's office. The cab driver decided the panel had to be hidden in the church of Goedertier's home town of Wetteren just outside this gothic city. An additional tease for sleuths was Goedertier's warning that the panel was hidden in a place no one can get to "without drawing public attention." So De Roeck called in police on Oct. 4 to help out in church and keep the curious at a safe distance. It only increased his disappointment when he came up empty-handed.
"This should have been the highlight of my quest," he lamented. Pre- eminent "missing panel" expert Karel Mortier, a retired police chief who has been hunting since the 1950s, had already made up his mind it could never be where De Roeck was looking, since hiding it so close to Goedertier's home would have made him all too obvious a suspect. "The only good thing to come out of this is that interest has soared again" he said. A new Web site is pooling theories and bringing fans together to exchange information. "A whole new generation is emerging," said Maria De Roo, a 73-year die-hard who is defending a conspiracy theory, claiming the Belgian authorities retrieved the panel a long time ago, but have ordered all involved to be silent. Some theories make an "Indiana Jones" scenario seem mundane. Some have Nazi conspiracies, others exotic hiding places as far away as India or deep in royal crypts. Mortier is keeping it simple, claiming Goedertier hid the painting somewhere behind the old wood paneling in the vast Saint Bavo cathedral. Seven years ago, X-ray investigations of part of the paneling was fruitless but lack of funds have barred the inquiry in the cathedral to continue. "Now, I'm trying to get more money again to continue the search in the church," he said.
Meanwhile, up to 2,000 visitors a day visit the gothic church in the center of town where Van Eyck's "Adoration," including a copy of the "Just Judges" panel, is encased in 2 inches of reinforced glass to prevent another theft. "Many come see the painting for something which is no longer there," said Bernauw. "That is almost art in itself."
Art given to family of Auschwitz victim
By Eszter Balázs
Four valuable works of art by Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy (1844–1909) have been returned to the descendants of the original owner who died in Auschwitz. The new owners will not be able to take the paintings out of Hungary as the Culture Heritage Protection Office has classed them as protected. Munkácsy’s works are exhibited in galleries in Vienna, Philadelphia,Chicago and in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The original owner of the four paintings in question, Jenô Vida, loaned Dusty Road (1874), Two Families (1877), The Baby’s Visitors (1879) and an early study of The Christ Before Pilate to the Museum of Fine Arts in Heroes’ Square for an exhibition in 1944. On March 12, 1944, the day before German troops invaded the country, he decided to leave the paintings at the Museum in order to protect them. In November, with the approach of the Red Army, the paintings, together with many other pieces of art, were sent to Germany but were blocked at the border. Vida was deported to Auschwitz from where he never returned and the paintings were taken back to the Museum of Fine Arts in 1957 after a period at the Commission of Lost Properties and the Center for Financial Institutions, said Minister of Culture Gábor Görgey, whose decision finally settled the fate of the four paintings. András Kelemen, legal representative of the heirs, started procedures to get the paintings back in 1999 and their return was authorized by former Minister of Culture Zoltán Rockenbauer in 2001. The deletion of the paintings from the inventory of the National Gallery was signed by Görgey last Tuesday. They were taken away by Kelemen to be put in a safe. “I cannot tell you the worth of the pictures, partly as it would be unfair and partly because I am not an expert – but it is in the tens of millions of forints,” Görgey said. He emphasized that the paintings, one of which (The Baby’s Visitors) was exhibited in the permanent exhibition of the National Gallery, cannot leave the country and will remain accessible to the public, although it is not yet clear where or how.
http://www.budapestsun.com/
Does this museum face same risk of flawed electrical system?
By Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News Staff
JEDDAH, 29 November 2002 — For years, Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum stood in Jeddah’s Al-Andalus district as the most famous antiquities museum in Saudi Arabia. Its Disneyland-like facade and vast content made it famous throughout the Middle East, and it was a source of pride for the city of Jeddah. However, in June this year a fire engulfed the four buildings and within hours they were reduced to ashes, along with their over 16,000 unique artifacts. Damage was estimated at SR100 million and the owner, Sheikh Abdul Raouf Khalil, held the Saudi Electricity Company directly responsible because he said there had been a sudden surge of electrical current at the main power point in the museum, which had caused the fire. However, the electricity company denied all responsibility. Attempts by Arab News to gain information on the outcome of an official investigation into the cause of the fire was met with a wall of silence. No official report has thus far been published. Arab News can reveal that Sheikh Abdul Raouf Khalil is also the owner of the equally extraordinary Khan Khalil complex in the Faisaliya district of North Jeddah. Decorated with traditional rawshans like those found in the historic Al-Balad district of the city, it has defining minarets and brown-and-cream colored facades and it takes up a whole block. It also has a popular mosque. The mesmerizing view of this building takes visitors away from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle that is North Jeddah. An investigation by Arab News has discovered that exactly the same problem Sheikh Abdul Raouf said was the cause of the fire in his now-gutted museum in Al-Andalus may also be making the Khan Khalil complex vulnerable to destruction by fire. One of the merchants in the souq adjacent to the mosque, who did not want to give his name, told Arab News that the museum has a very high entrance fee because of electrical problems. Entry to the museum costs a staggering SR300 per group, meaning that if a visitor is on his own he must pay the full SR300.
Like the museum in Al-Andalus that is no more, electricity to the 350 exhibit rooms is controlled by only one switch. “Either the entire museum is switched on, or it is switched off,” the antique seller explained. “Due to the high cost of entry, most visitors to the museum are children on school trips who don’t come into the local stores to buy antiques. If the electrical issue was resolved, entry into the exhibit area could be made more affordable and this would bring more foot traffic and visitors to the museum’s shops.” When the security guard was told that this journalist wanted to look around the museum as part of the research he was doing on the whole complex of buildings, he refused to give permission for him to enter. Subsequent attempts to set up an appointment with Sheikh Abdul Raouf Khalil also failed, his security chief explaining that “he does not talk to the press”. After having one museum destroyed by a fire blamed on the Saudi Electricity Company, and losing over 16,000 artifacts, Sheikh Abdul Raouf Khalil and his business tenants would surely benefit from a more modern electrical system at Khan Khalil. Mohammed Abdullah, who has been an antique merchant at the local souq for 11 years, added that “most of my customers come by word of mouth or drive by to see the impressive traditional architecture. Business is not as good as it could be, but I am managing to survive.” “Solving the museum’s internal problems and promoting it properly would benefit the neighboring shops and mosque by bringing about more visitors,” he added.
http://www.arabnews.com/
Ancient sites at risk
More than half the ancient earthworks in the east of England are in arable farm-land and in danger of being wiped from the landscape. The warning comes from Philip Walker, English Heritage inspector of ancient monuments for Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, who said 58pc of the field monuments, which include the remains of burial mounds, excavated hill forts and the "footprints" of long-disappeared buildings, are under arable crops. Launching the State of the Historic Environment Report, the Government's first national audit of Britain's historic environment, Mr Walker said: "The main problem in conserving our historic environment is concerned with what we tend to call field monuments, or earthworks. "Many of them are covered in scrub, or in use as farmland, and frankly some can be a bit of an eyesore. "Many farmers are very interested in their past and show genuine care and concern for historic sites. "Others have difficulties, often because of the huge economic pressures on them which mean it is not always possible to find the resources needed for conservation of ancient monuments. "Ploughing, in particular, has caused the loss of quite a large number of earthwork sites." The problem is being addressed by the Norfolk Monuments Management Project, run by the county's museums and archaeology service and given an annual budget of £10,000 to advise landowners on conservation techniques such as scrub-clearance, pest control and grass cover. "In almost all cases, farmers and landowners are keen to help preserve the historic environment," said project officer Helen Paterson. "We get the most amazing co-operation and I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of farmers who are disinterested in conservation."
The regional launch of the report was at Hunworth, near Holt, where Ian MacNicol, owner of the 4000-acre Stody Estate and a former president of the Country Land and Business Association, is carrying out conservation work on a 12th century hill fort overlooking the village. Using its own funds as well as a grant under the Government's Countryside Stewardship Scheme, the estate cleared conifers from the site of the 90m-wide mound and surrounding ditch. The monuments manage-ment project provided a site survey, and now the hill is ready to be used for educational visits and parish open days. "The site was originally completely covered over, you could not see the ditch and it was impossible to enjoy any of the views from the site," said farm and estate manager Ross Haddow. "A scheme was drawn up with countryside steward- ship grants and advice from Helen, and we have cleared the trees and fenced the site so it can be grazed by animals.
"The site is now available for educational access.
"Such areas are part of our history and we believe it is important to be able to explain to today's youth how our countryside developed."
http://www.edp24.co.uk/
Namatjira painting stolen
An original Albert Namatjira painting worth an estimated $250,000 has been stolen from an Alice Springs art gallery, police said. The painting, Twin Gums, disappeared some time in an hour before the Panorama Guth gallery in Hartley Street closed at 4.30pm CST (1800 AEDT) on Friday, a police spokeswoman said. Police released a likeness of an Aboriginal man, aged in his mid 20s, who was seen in the gallery about the time of the disappearance. The painting is about one metre by one metre and mounted in a bronze coloured frame. "Police would like to speak to a number of people who were in the gallery at the time, including a middle-aged Australian couple and a part-Aboriginal man aged about 25," the spokesman said. The Aborigine is described as 187cm tall, of medium build and with black hair. "Police would also like to hear from anyone who may have seen someone carrying a large painting in the vicinity or acting in a suspicious manner - either in the laneway between the gallery and KFC or the Diplomat Hotel carpark area."
http://www.theage.com.au/
Stolen Ancient Relics Returned to Egypt
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Four works of ancient Egyptian art were returned Friday after being stolen and sold to a Swiss collector eight years ago, an antiquity official said. The relics were stolen in 1994 from Karnak Temple, in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, and spirited out of Egypt, said Abdel Karim Abu Shanab, an official with the Supreme Council of Antiquities. A Swiss art collector who had three of the works offered to return them to Egypt after seeing a bulletin through the Egyptian Interpol, Abu Shanab said. No legal action was taken against the unidentified collector. The pieces date back to Egypt's Late Dynastic period (1085 B.C. to 332 B.C.) and were discovered in the 1970s. They include a 16-inch black basalt relief of a woman with her hands on her husband's shoulder, and three plaques. ``They are very beautiful pieces,'' Abu Shanab told The Associated Press in Cairo. ``We will have to find out their religious significance. The relief taken out of the Karnak Temple must have a religious significance.'' A department of returned antiquities was created six months ago to track relics stolen from Egypt. Abu Shanab said another pharaonic plaque, located in Germany, is expected to be returned to Egypt on Saturday.
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On The Net: Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities: http://www.sca.gov.eg
Missing head of Buddha on its way home
A precious thousand-year-old stone Buddha head will be returned to its historic roots in eastern Shandong Province by a Taiwan religious organization next month. Master Sheng Yen, founder of the Dharma Drum Mountain Foundation located in Peitou, Taipei, explained that "returning this 1,300-year- old Buddhist relic to its historic roots and restoring it to its original dignified completeness is much more important than keeping it here at the DDM." The stone head of the Akshobhya Buddha statue, originally from the Four Gate Pagoda of Shentong Monastery in Shandong, was sawed off and stolen in 1997. The head was then moved from place to place around the globe over a period of more than four years before coming into the possession of a few Taiwanese business people. The relic, which is highly representative of the Buddhist culture in China before the Tang Dynasty, was presented to Master Sheng earlier this year as a gift intended to be displayed in the DDM Museum of Buddhist History and Culture that is under construction. The DDM spent six months investigating the origins of the Buddha head. Through the help of local art experts and scholars, preliminary results revealed that it might be the missing head of the Four Gate Pagoda Buddha. In order to confirm this, Liu Fengjun, a department head of Shandong University's Institute of Archaeological Art and Research, and Liu Jiwen, vice president of the Committee of the Four Gate Pagoda Scenic Spot, were invited by the DDM to Taiwan Province for further inspection of the statue. After thorough observation and analysis on the artifact, the two experts confirmed that the relic was indeed the missing head of the Akshobhya Buddha statue that is located at the east wall of the central column of the Four Gate Pagoda, which was built during the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and was ranked as one of China's most important artifact in 1963. Master Sheng has decided to allow the Taiwan public an opportunity to view the Buddha head between December 1-15, before it is returned to the mainland. He said the return of the Buddha head is also a move in support of international campaigns for cultural preservation as this year has been proclaimed by the United Nations as the "Year for Cultural Heritage."
http://english.eastday.com/
Masterpiece art work is stolen from Baltic
By Brenda Hickman, Evening Chronicle
A piece of a £270,000 art exhibit has been snatched on Tyneside after touring the world. The ink drawing was stolen from a Oyvind Fahlstrom work, described by experts as a contemporary masterpiece. It was on show at the Baltic Centre on Gateshead Quayside. A section of the exhibit called 182 improvisations for night music, was taken from its metal hinges leaving a gap in the piece. Police who were alerted by Baltic chiefs and have launched an international hunt for the 18 x 23cm ink symbol section. Details of the piece are on the Home Office stolen art treasures internet website. News of the theft was broken to the artist's widow, Sharon Avery- Fahlstrom, who is co-curator of his work. A Gateshead East police spokesman said: "We are working closely with the Baltic staff and the artist's widow. "The piece of the exhibit was discovered missing on November 20th. It appears some effort was made to remove it from the mount which was attached by metal hinges. "We are studying CCTV footage from the Baltic and details of the stolen drawing are being circulated to other police forces via the internet." The exhibit 182 improvisations for night music 1974/75, is valued at $400,000. A Baltic spokesman said: "An element of one work of art has gone missing. It formed part of an exhibition of Ovyind Fahlstrom. The element alone is of limited market value as it is unsigned and forms a small part of a bigger work. "We are disappointed this has occurred as our ethos is to make art as accessible as possible. As a result security has been increased to ensure the public can still enjoy contemporary art at close proximity. "The artwork was displayed and protected as the lender requested." Police are trying to establish how security at the Baltic, which has guards and CCTV, was breached. A spokesman said: "We don't believe this piece of the exhibit was stolen by a professional. It was more likely snatched as an opportunist prank. "The work is normally housed in a museum in Barcelona but has toured the world." The Fahlstrom exhibition, which ran from September 28 to November 24, was his first solo show in the UK and the largest presentation of his work to date. Mrs Avery-Fahlstrom said it had been her husband's wish for his work to be seen and enjoyed by as many people as possible. Born in Brazil, of Scandinavian parents, Fahlstrom died in 1976 from cancer. His widow is the director of the Oyvind Fahlstrom Foundation and the Oyvind Fahlstrom Archive at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona. The exhibition included sketches, drawings, comic strips, large coloured metal installations and soundtracks.
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/
The Art Newspaper.com http://www.theartnewspaper.com
This week's top stories:
AUSTRIAN COURT ORDERS SEIZURE OF NAZI-LOOTED SCHIELE
VIENNA. An Austrian court has ordered the seizure of an allegedly Nazi-looted artwork, an unprecedented step for a judicial system which has long been seen as not doing all it can to ensure the recovery of art looted by Nazis from Jews. The order, granted on 14 November by the Landesgericht für Strassachen, the court for criminal procedure in Vienna, was sought in the name of an heir of a Viennese Jew, Dr Heinrich Rieger, who died at Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10415
ABSENCE OF AMERICANS IS GLASGOW’S GAIN
LONDON. The sale of a private collection of furniture by Charles Rennie Mackintosh at Christie’s on 6 November proved to be Glasgow’s finest hour. Due to the absence of Americans and any other competitive bidding, the city secured four of the top 10 lots in the sale, for a total of £1.69 million. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10414
AGNEW’S SETTLES CONSTABLE CASE
LONDON. Just before it went to court, the £1 million case brought by a British collector against Agnew’s has been settled. The case, which concerned a painting by Constable, was settled on terms “mutually agreable to both parties”, according to a press release issued by the gallery. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10413
DESPITE THE ECONOMIC DOLDRUMS NEW MUSEUMS ARE STILL OPENING
TOKYO. Japan has never been short of museums—at the last count, there were 3,777—but recent developments have been discouraging. Privately owned and corporate museums have felt the pinch of the economic downturn, with some selling off their collections and even closing, while public museums are constrained by increasingly slender budgets. But amid the gloom, and with no clear sign of an economic recovery, several major new museums have come into being. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10412
VAN DE VELDE’S GESAMTKUNSTWERK OPENS TO THE PUBLIC
CHEMNITZ. After three years of restoration work the Art Nouveau masterpiece, the Villa Esche, built in Chemnitz (Saxony) in 1903 by the architect Henry van de Velde, has opened to the public. It has been restored at a cost of more than €6 million—and, unfortunately, some original elements have been compromised on the way. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10411
THE TROUBLE WITH TOURISTS
If you run your eye down Unesco’s list of world heritage sites you will discover that more than 100 historic cities and about 200 sacred sites are located in developing countries. The Unesco label certainly generates tourism, but this in itself creates both problems and responsibilities with it, and demonstrates just how tricky it is for places to develop. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10410 Anna Somers Cocks, Editor
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