SEPTEMBER 29 - 30, 1997
- presentations ICOM Security in Berlin (moderator's message)
- Re: SEPTEMBER 27, 1997 (Steve Keller's reply to C.J.Schreiner's
remarks about stolen manuscripts shown to professionals)
- Violent antiques thief leafed through the reference work to select
judges and peers and planned each raid in great detaiL
- Treasures of 13th and 14th century left cracked and crumbling after
earthquakes rock central Italy (More on Assissi earthquake)
- Italy quake latest chapter in ``Curse of Cimabue''
- St. Francis' Legacy
- New tremors halt friars' battle to save Assisi art
- Frescos damaged beyond repair by earthquake (art historian, Federico Zeri, has blamed poor and "idiotic" restoration work in the 1950s and 1960s)
- Damage at Assisi blamed on work in 1960s
- Thieves rip altar from Hardy church
- Vandalism and theft (in churches) cost insurer £5 million a year
- Looters pillage church art in Assisi
- Re: Library vandalism
- the National Monument Fairness Act severely weakens the Antiquities
Act of 1906 (National Parks)

 
presentations ICOM Security in Berlin
In our mailing of September 27 I informed you that Roger Wulff of
Museum Services International sent his ICMS/Berlin speech to the
Museum Security Network. You can read the full article at:
http://museum-security.org/rogerwulff.html
Speeches (or abstracts of speeches) made by other participants of the
ICMS meeting are welcome. Do send your wordprocessor files as
e-mail attachment to securma@museum-security.org
thanks,
Ton Cremers
------------------------------------------
From: USartcop@aol.com
Subject: Re: SEPTEMBER 27, 1997
In response to Dr. Scheiner's question, there are Special Agents of
the FBI in Los Angeles and New York who actually specialize in art and
valuable property theft investigations and who have many resources at
their command not available to the public. I would suggest that if a
person has reason to believe that he may be offered stolen property he
should make an effort to identify the person making the offer, try to
obtain a license plate number of his vehicle, etc., inasmuch as a
"mule" is sometimes used to offer the stolen property. I would
suggest that this person not try to hold the seller physically. It
would be advantageous to stall the seller by explaining that
something/someone has to be consulted before the purchase can be
consumated. This would allow time to contact law enforcement to
research the matter. We should be aware that even when there is a
major theft that there can be literally thousands of investigative
leads. While some may come to public notice, they may not be as
promising as the leads which do not.
-------------------------
(Times of London)
Violent antiques thief leafed through the reference work to select
judges and peers and planned each raid in great detail, reports
Joanna Bale.
Burglar who read Who's Who is jailed.
A SELF-TAUGHT antiques expert who used violence to force his
accomplices to burgle victims whose addresses he got from Who's Who,
was jailed for 20 years yesterday. Nick Stock masterminded the theft
of antiques worth more than £2 million in 200 raids across two
counties. Police say that since his arrest the burglary rate has
dropped dramatically. He travelled hundreds of miles to reconnoitre
his target properties, belonging to judges, peers and a vice-admiral.
He then cut telephone wires and disconnected burglar alarms before
sending in his men. Stock, 34, was said to know enough about
valuables to star on BBC1's Antiques Roadshow. Sometimes he raided
houses when the owners were in bed because he knew people usually did
not switch on their burglar alarms while they were at home. Detective
Sergeant Dave McKinney, who headed the police inquiry, said after the
case: "He would often recce a house months in advance. He would never
forget a room. His gang would then return and he was able to tell
them exactly what to take and where it was located. He was ruthless
and treated the members of his gang terribly, using violence to
secure their attendance at the burglary. He has an evil air about
him." The gang would get rid of what they stole immediately, selling
it, or hiding it in nearby woods or undergrowth for collection at a
later date. Once they smothered stolen property in fox bones to
confuse police dogs. Only a small amount of the stolen property has
been recovered. Detective Constable Dave Johnson said: "The money
went straight into Stock's pocket. Those of the gang that weren't
afraid of him got their fair share, but there were those who saw
nothing." Stock was caught when one of his accomplices, Colin
Marshal, asked for police protection because he feared his boss was
planning to kill him. Marshal is now part of the witness protection
scheme. A second informant provided further evidence. Sentencing
Stock to one of the longest terms for burglary in recent years, Judge
Michael Brodrick told him: "These burglaries are by a wide margin the
most serious I have ever encountered." Stock, of Fareham, Hampshire,
had pleaded guilty at Winchester Crown Court to three burglary
conspiracies stretching over five years. He was also sentenced for
conspiracy to rob George's jewellers in Southsea, Hampshire, for
which a jury had found him guilty. Stock's gang of accomplices were
also jailed. Stephen Cooledge, 36, of Fareham, was sentenced to 14
years: 9 1/2 years for conspiracy to rob, one year for the possession
of a firearm with intent and 3 1/2 years for conspiracy to burgle, to
run consecutively. Clay Meader, 22, of the same address, was
sentenced to five years for conspiracy to rob and 12 months for
conspiracy to burgle, to run concurrently. Darren Nicholas, 22, of
Crookhorn, Hampshire, was sentenced to nine years for conspiracy to
burgle and 12 months for actual bodily harm, to run concurrently.
Richard Bateman, 32, of Fareham, was sentenced to three years for
conspiracy to burgle. Michael Pearce, 38, of Sarisbury Green,
Hampshire, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years for burglary.
Darren Kearns, 27, of Fareham, was sentenced to four years for
conspiracy to burgle. Kevin Wilcox, 26, of Lee-on-Solent was
sentenced to three years for burglary. Dale Saunders, 26, of
Fareham, was given a community service order of 200 hours for
burglary. Michael Hanton, 29, of Boscombe, Dorset, was given a
suspended sentence of two years for conspiracy to burgle. Karl West,
27, of Portsmouth, was sentenced to three years for burglary.
James Iles, 21, of Portchester, Hampshire, was given an 80-hour
community service order for dishonestly assisting the removal of
stolen property.
--------------------------
 
(Times of London)
Treasures of 13th and 14th century left cracked and crumbling after
earthquakes rock central Italy, reports Richard Owen.
The first earthquake cracked this Giotto fresco of St Francis and St
Clare. It was destroyed by the second 'Catastrophe' for world
heritage TWO powerful earthquakes that struck Italy yesterday killed
at least ten people and badly damaged 13th and 14th-century frescoes
by Giotto and Cimabue in the basilica of St Francis of Assisi. Four
people were killed inside the church when the second, more severe,
earthquake brought down the vaulted ceiling of the upper church of
the basilica. They included two Franciscan friars and an art
restoration expert, who were examining damage caused by the first
shock. Monks survey the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, where four
people died when the ceiling collapsed One of the friars, aged 25,
had just joined the order at Assisi. The other was aged 40. Rescue
workers said they feared that more people could be trapped beneath a
three-metre layer of rubble. Pope John Paul II said he was deeply
saddened by the disaster and sent telegrams to the bishops of the
dioceses involved and to the basilica's religious custodian. The
partial collapse of the church was described as a catastrophe for
world heritage by the director of the Louvre. One Cimabue
masterpiece, The Acts of the Apostles, seemed to have been almost
completely destroyed. "This is all that is left of one Cimabue
fresco," said Costantino Centroni, the Superintendent of Fine Arts
for Umbria, as he held a pile of dust and crumbling plaster in his
hands. Behind him bulldozers and rescue workers shifted fallen
masonry in the doorway of the basilica and clouds of dust billowed
out. A section of vaulting depicting an early church figure,
attributed both to the young Giotto and Cimabue, was also believed to
have been destroyed and at least two Giotto frescoes had cracks.
Water supplies and road and rail traffic were disrupted across
central Italy, and the Government declared an emergency. The first
earthquake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, was at 2.33am. The
second, at 11.42am, measured 5.7. Both were felt as far north as Alto
Adige, in the Italian Alps, and 60 miles south in Rome, where
buildings swayed. Umbria, the epicentre, often has minor tremors and
residents and art experts had long feared a major shock which would
pose a risk to the many art treasures in towns such as Assisi and
Perugia. Yesterday's earthquakes damaged buildings in the
15th-century town of Urbino, in the Marche, whose ducal palace is a
jewel of European art and architecture. The first earthquake was most
strongly felt in villages near Assisi and in the remote hill towns
and villages of the Apennines. Two elderly couples from the villages
of Collecurti and Cesi, in the Marche, were among those who died.
Italian television, which interrupted normal programmes, showed
weeping villagers - many of them elderly - standing outside the ruins
of their homes. Several villages have been evacuated in case of
aftershocks. Civil defence officials said that more than 2,000 people
had been made homeless because their houses were damaged or unsafe.
Tents and blankets stored after the 1976 Friuli earthquake were
distributed with fresh drinking water and medicines. Romano Prodi,
the Prime Minister, flew to the disaster area with Walter Veltroni,
the Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister. An Italian cultural
affairs minister described the damage to the works of arts as
"enormous". Pierre Rosenberg, director of the Louvre in Paris, said:
"We will do all we can to help our Italian colleagues." It was the
damage at Assisi that caused greatest concern. The giant basilica was
begun in 1228, two years after the death of St Francis, and its
decoration attracted the leading artists of the day. They included
Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337), who is credited with laying the
foundations of the Renaissance - and therefore of all modern art- by
abandoning the flat, mannered style of Byzantine painting and
creating rounded, lifelike human images. The basilica, divided into
upper and lower churches, houses St Francis's tomb which was
discovered only in 1818. It has wall frescoes by Giotto, his mentor
Pietro Cavallini (1259-1344), Simone Martini (1284-1344) and Giovanni
Cimabue (c1240-1302). Giotto's cycle of 28 frescoes on the life of St
Francis has just been restored, amid scholarly controversy over which
were painted by him and which by Cavallini. Officials said that the
Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in the plain below Assisi,
built over St Francis's original hermit's hut, had also been damaged.
The epicentre of the earthquake was near Foligno, 20 miles from
Assisi, now a largely modern town. Foligno hospital and the
Romanesque cathedral at Bevagna were also badly damaged. Two died as
second shock brought ceiling down on restorers
RESCUE workers used wheelbarrows, miniature bulldozers and spades
to find the bodies of the dead as the full horror of the earthquake
sank in. Outside the basilica relatives of a municipal draughtsman
trapped inside the church, and feared dead, berated television crews
for blocking the path that ambulances were using to take out the dead
and injured. Armed police pushing wheelbarrows and civil protection
workers using miniature bulldozers piled heaps of rubble on the lawn
in front of the basilica as tourists, friars and nuns watched. Late
last night police began using sniffer dogs to try to find other
people who might be buried under the masonry. The head of the
basilica's restoration team said that he had been among about 30
people who were inside the basilica when the second earthquake
struck. Sergio Fusetti said that the group was expecting damage and
had inspected the building at around 2.40am. He had not expected that
there would be a second earthquake. "When the shock happened we
lifted up our heads and saw fragments of the basilica falling on us.
We were about thirty people at the time. Some of us began to run and
we were pulling the others along with our hands. The monks who died
were behind me. Luckily, I was able to get out of the back exit."
He added: "The earthquake shock lasted a long time - it seemed
like almost a minute. As I left the building large chunks were
beginning to collapse." With the group was Associated Press
photographer Plinio Lepri. "I was taking pictures of the frescoes
when I felt a first tremor," he said. "Maybe five minutes later,
there was a stronger one and in that instant it seemed like
everything fell around me. "There was dust everywhere. I couldn't see
anything. The rubble was up to my hips. I saw a light in one part of
the cathedral. I had to climb over rubble, and kept falling. I was
kind of in shock. I went toward the light and managed to get out of a
window," he said, adding that he saw two bodies in the rubble near
the front entrance. "It was the worst damage ever to the cathedral
since it was built," said Mayor Giorgio Bartolini, covered with dust
and his trousers ripped at the knee. In a nearby street, nurses
brought out weeping elderly women from a rest home. Shops in the area
were closed last night. Residents loaded their cars with bedding and
other belongings. Two hundred people reported damage to their homes.
Fontano Bartacci, 57, owner of the hotel Il Palazzo, lost his home.
"We're scared. We've been through it before, but this is the worst
tremor we ever felt so we're leaving," he said. His family would stay
on the outskirts of town in a friend's camper van. There are
conflicting reports about whether the earthquake had caused serious
damage to the most important frescoes within the basilica executed by
Giotto and Cimabue. First reports quoted the Superintendent of Fine
Arts for Umbria, Constantino Centroni, as saying that works by the
two had been gravely damaged. However, a German friar, Father Gerhard
Ruf, who is responsible for the photographic archive of the basilica,
later made a tour of the church to take photographs and said that
there were only minor cracks at most to the works by Giotto and
Cimabue. He said the main damage was to a fresco, in the trancept of
the basilica, which has been attributed to Jacopo Torriti among
others. Father Ruf said: "Last night I thought that after the first
shock it was all over. But the second shock was really much bigger.
Thank God that we decided to close the church to tourists this
morning. It was by the grace of God that there were relatively few
people inside the church." In Assisi yesterday evening many residents
decided to spend the night out of doors in parks or in cars parked
outside the city. The damage to the 13th century basilica coincided
with preparations to mark the anniversary of the death of St Francis
on October 3 in 1226. Father Ruf said that the surviving friars would
remain in the friary adjoining the basilica. The shock waves were
felt as far south as Rome, where a cast-iron chandelier fell from a
reception room in the Italian Senate, severely injuring an usher who
was walking underneath. Damage was severe also in the Umbrian town of
Foligno, where the bell tower of the city's cathedral collapsed.
-------------------------
 
Italy quake latest chapter in ``Curse of Cimabue''
ASSISI, Italy, Sept 27 (Reuter) - The earthquake that devastated a
fresco attributed to Cimabue in the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi
has highlighted his reputation as an artist cursed by fate. It all
started when Italy's revered poet Dante Alighieri cited his 13th
century contemporary, whose full name was Cenni di Peppi, in ``The
Divine Comedy'' in none too flattering words to illustrate the
transience of earthly glory. ``Cimabue thought that he held the field
in painting but now Giotto is acclaimed and his fame obscured,'' he
wrote, referring to the painter widely believed to have been
Cimabue's pupil. The words, though apparently harsh, later served to
fuel Cimabue's own reputation when commentators seized upon them to
show that he had been a great innovator who began the shift towards
realism that culminated in the Renaissance. Fate, however, was not
kind to Cimabue. His acclaimed frescoes in Assisi, which were begun
in 1280, had already been badly damaged by the elements over the
years. A impressive Crucifix attributed to him in Florence was ruined
by a devastating flood in 1966. Then, on Friday, powerful twin
earthquakes caused part of the Assisi basilica's vaulted, frescoed
ceiling to cave in. Art restorers were trying on Saturday to piece
the fragments of the frescoes back together but it appeared that
parts at least of the celebrated work had now been lost forever.
Ironically, the quakes left the most famous frescoes in the basilica
-- those by Giotto -- cracked but largely intact.
Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited.
---------------
 
St. Francis' Legacy
COMBINED NEWS SERVICES
Assisi, Italy - The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is one of
Italy's most beloved tourist sites and the repository of a
significant series of frescoes often attributed to early Italian
master Giotto di Bondone. The principal monument dedicated to the
13th Century saint who founded the Franciscan order, it also has
become a symbol of peace efforts and was the site of multifaith
prayer services led by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and 1993. The
basilica, in the Umbrian hill town of Assisi, consists of an upper
and lower portion. Earthquakes Friday caused a part of the basilica
roof to collapse. In one of the quakes, the frescoes above the
basilica's main entrance fell. Pope Gregory IX laid the foundation
stone for the lower section on July 17, 1228, two days after the
canonization of his friend, Francis. In lightning speed for the time,
workers finished the structure in two years, and Francis' remains
were transferred to a crypt there. The upper part was finished in
1253. The building appears like two churches resting on an immense
archway and opening up to a vast esplanade. The basilica drew the
great artists of the 13th and 14th Centuries and contains works by
Cimabue, Martini and Lorenzetti. But its greatest riches are a
28-fresco depiction of the life of St. Francis, on the lower part of
the nave in the upper basilica. Scenes two to 11 often are attributed
solely to painter Giotto, the Florentine artist credited with paving
the way for Italian Renaissance painting. The others are credited to
a joint effort with his students. However, some historians question
whether Giotto actually painted the frescoes, and the debate is
considered among the most controversial in art history. After being
restored in the 1960s, an earthquake caused damage to some of the
frescoes in 1982.
---------------------
New tremors halt friars' battle to save Assisi art
by John Phillips
FRANCISCAN friars were thwarted in their struggle to save priceless
art treasures from the basement of the Basilica of St Francis of
Assisi as fresh tremors shook central Italy yesterday. The friars, in
brown habits and sandals, had begun packing up artworks in the museum
below the badly damaged basilica at dawn yesterday when they were
forced to flee as a tremor measuring 4 on the Richter scale rocked
the medieval walled town. Tremors which have shaken dozens of small
hill towns throughout Umbria and the Marches over the past two days
have killed at least 11 people and left 13th and 14th-century
frescoes by Giotto and Cimabue in the basilica badly damaged. Among
those killed were two monks and two arts specialists who were crushed
as part of the roof of the 13th-century basilica collapsed onto the
high altar on Friday morning while a team of 20 people carried out an
inspection of damage caused to the holy site by a quake hours
earlier. "We have already lost two of our brothers. I didn't want to
be next. There's a scale of values to be respected," said Father
Pasquale Magro, the museum curator, who was among those racing to
remove paintings, including a collection of rare 13th-century
works, for fear that further tremors could destroy them.
There have been more than 40 minor shocks since the first two
devastating quakes. Police estimate that 20,000 people have had to
leave their homes and move into caravan and tent camps set up by
the army in the Umbria region alone. In the Marches at least 27
mountain towns and villages have been badly affected and residents
with damaged homes have been forced to camp out in the cold.
Thousands more, whose homes were not affected, chose to spend the
past two nights sleeping in gardens and cars rather than risk being
injured by further tremors. Among the stories of bravery by medical
teams and rescue workers battling to prevent further loss of life was
that of a group of doctors in the maternity ward of a hospital in
Foligno who refused to abandon their posts as the wall of the
hospital crumbled. "The delivery room was shaking from every side,
some objects smashed on the floor," said Franco Mancini, a
gynaecologist. "I was scared as hell. But when my colleagues and I
looked at each other we knew we had to go on." Minutes later the team
delivered a baby girl named Franca. More than 120,000 Italians have
been killed in quakes this century, though few have inflicted such
serious damage on Italy's cultural heritage. The full extent of the
damage to artworks in the basilica remained unclear last night.
Officials said it was likely to be days before restoration work
starts. However, international art experts have described the damage
as a "catastrophe" for world heritage. "You can only compare this to
the devastation from bombing in the second world war," said Antonio
Paolucci, superintendant of artistic heritage in Florence, who was
sent to Assisi to supervise the removal of fragile paintings and
statues from the museum and the basilica. "It is as if a giant hand
had picked up the church and shaken it around and dropped it."
The Italian government plans to ask for European Union aid for
reconstruction work in Assisi and other towns, including Foligno
and Urbino, on the grounds that they are part of Europe's common
cultural heritage. Paolucci said the British Museum had volunteered
to send restorers to the towns to help with the repairs. Giorgio
Bartolini, the mayor of Assisi, vowed to restore the basilica by
2000, which the Pope has declared a holy year, to herald the
millennium. "This is a sacred site, it is the most important of all
Italy because St Francis is the patron saint of Italy," said
Paolucci. "It is more important than St Peter's."
----------------------
(Telegraph of London)
Frescos damaged beyond repair by earthquake
By Bruce Johnston in Assisi
EARTHQUAKE damage to frescos in the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi
was described as "irreparable" yesterday by the Italian fine arts
official whose job it will be to co-ordinate restoration work.
Antonio Paolucci, arts superintendent for Florence and a former fine
arts minister, added that the full extent of the damage would not be
known for days. In addition to damage to frescos, he said "an
infinite number of cracks" had appeared throughout the basilica's
structure as a result of two strong tremors, affecting even external
walls and the bell tower. Aftershocks continued to jolt the town of
Assisi yesterday as art experts sifted through the rubble, and police
cordoned the main Porta Nuova gate to the town, saying serious cracks
had appeared, and that there was a risk the structure could collapse.
Many of the 25,000 residents of the medieval town spent
the night outdoors. In keeping with the sombre mood throughout Italy
in the aftermath of the loss of life and heritage, the Pope expressed
his condolences yesterday to the families of the 11 people killed in
Assisi and elsewhere in central Italy. He said the damage caused to
the artistic heritage caused him personal pain. In an address to
50,000 pilgrims in Bologna, he said: "I am spiritually close to all
those who are homeless and those who suffer." The quakes had
caused "incalculable damage to people and property". Italy's leading
art historian, Federico Zeri, has blamed poor and "idiotic"
restoration work in the 1950s and 1960s for compromising the
structure of the basilica. Mr Zeri said the original wooden joists
and roof supports had been replaced by reinforced concrete which had
made the building heavier and more rigid, thus removing its ability
"to withstand earthquakes which it has done for 1,000 years".
Bruno Zanardi, of the Italian Central Institute of Restoration, said
the work had been conducted by civil engineers and not an expert on
historical monuments. Two earthquakes which shook central Italy on
Friday caused part of the dome of the basilica to collapse, damaging
several frescos dating from the 13th and 14th Centuries. Two
Franciscan monks and two culture ministry assessors who were
inspecting the building after the first tremor were killed when the
second struck, bringing down rubble and frescos from ceiling vaults.
A fresco by Cimabue, the tutor of Giotto and the painter who is
considered to have been the forerunner of Renaissance art, was badly
damaged. The 28 frescos depicting the life of St Francis, painted
between 1294 and 1304 and attributed to Giotto, were also damaged,
but less seriously. The British Museum has offered its help with
restoration work.
-----------------------
 
(times of London)
Damage at Assisi blamed on work in 1960s
FROM RICHARD OWEN
IN ROME
AS RESTORERS began the near-impossible task of piecing together
fragments of ruined frescoes at Assisi after last Friday's double
earthquake, art experts said that the ceiling of the great
13th-century basilica had collapsed because of structural repairs 30
years ago in which reinforced concrete was used instead of the
original wood. There were also accusations that Italian seismologists
knew that a second earthquake was imminent after the first jolt but
failed to give an adequate warning. The second, mid-morning
earthquake, which measured 5.7 on the Richter scale, caused most
damage to the masterpieces by Giotto, Cimabue, Cavallini and other
painters who, in a condensed burst of creativity over a period of 50
years at the end of the 13th century, laid the foundations of later
Western art. Experts assessing the basilica after the ceiling in the
upper church collapsed, sending masonry crashing to the floor in
clouds of dust, confirmed that the earthquake had destroyed a fresco
above the main altar by Cimabue depicting the four evangelists and
another attributed to Giotto (but disputed) entitled The Doctors of
the Church. One fresco definitely painted by Giotto showing St
Francis and his devoted disciple, St Clare (founder of the Poor
Clares), is disfigured by a jagged crack. But most of Giotto's 28
frescoes depicting scenes from St Francis's life are intact, as is
the saint's tomb in the lower church. The two earthquakes killed 11
people and left thousands homeless in the hill towns and villages of
Umbria and Marche (the Marches). Many people said they were afraid to
return to their homes after warnings that there might be further
earthquakes. "Assisi looks as if it was hit by a bomb," said Antonio
Paolucci, the former Minister of Culture who has been asked to
supervise the restoration effort, dubbed Operation Giotto.
Professor Federico Zeri, Italy's foremost art historian, said that
during restoration of the basilica in the 1960s the great wooden
crossbeams holding up the roof had been replaced by reinforced
concrete. "That was madness," Professor Zeri said. Lorenzo de
Angelis, the architect who was in charge of the restoration at the
time, said that the decision to use cement had been taken after much
agonising on the ground that there was a greater danger from fire
than from earthquakes. Assisi had a history of destructive fires, he
said. Professor Zeri said that the basilica had stood for 700 years
because the builders had used materials such as wood which were
better able to withstand earthquakes. James Beck, Professor of the
History of Art at Columbia University in New York, said he agreed
that reinforced concrete, fashionable in the 1960s, had "completely
altered the organic state of the basilica, making it lose its
elasticity". Professor Beck said other buildings were at risk because
they had been similarly restored, including the great dome of
Florence cathedral designed by Brunelleschi. "Italy has been wounded
at its heart," the banner headline in Corriere della Sera said.
Giorgio Bartolini, Mayor of Assisi, appealed to tourists not to come
to the town. The centre has been closed to traffic, with armed
Carabinieri guarding the basilica. Assisi residents noted that the
earthquake had happened on St Francis's birthday, September 26, and
recalled that Brother Leo, one of the first followers of St Francis,
had pronounced an anathema on the "sumptous edifice" of the basilica
when work began in 1228, arguing that it was contrary to the simple
and spartan principles of the saint. "Sooner or later it will fall
down", the friar prophesied, according to Father Marino Bigaroni, the
Franciscan librarian at Assisi. The first earthquake struck in the
small hours of Friday and the second came while experts were
examining the damage caused by the first. The ceiling collapse killed
two surveyors and two Franciscan friars. The surveyors were buried
yesterday and the Franciscans, one of whom was a 24-year-old friar
from Poland who had just arrived in Assisi, will be buried today.
Antonella Brunacci, sister of Bruno Brunacci, one of the dead
surveyors, said that she was considering legal action on the ground
that the restorers "should never have been sent back into the
basilica when there was a clear danger of another earthquake". Enzo
Boschi, head of the National Institute of Geophysics, said that
seismologists had played down the risk of a second, more powerful
earthquake in order not to spread panic. There had been fears of an
earthquake to match those at Messina in 1908, which killed 100,000,
in Friuli in 1976, when 1,000 died, and in Irpinia in 1980, when the
death toll was 3,000. Walter Veltroni, the Deputy Prime Minister and
Culture Minister, said state experts were checking some 1,200
important monuments of historical value within a 20 mile radius of
the epicentre of the quakes to assess whether they had suffered any
damage. Professor Romano Prodi, the Prime Minister, said that the
Government was setting aside £300 million in aid and that it aimed to
restore the basilica in time for the millennium. Experts from the
British Museum and the Louvre have offered help. Renato Funicello, a
leading geophyscist, said that preventive action should also be taken
in Rome. He said much of ancient Rome within the Aurelian walls lay
on the Tiberine alluvium, which instead of absorbing the impact of an
earthquake would multiply its effect, "bringing down the Colosseum".
The disaster at Assisi has revived soul-searching over Italy's
neglect of its art treasures. "We have masterpieces we do not
deserve," said Il Messaggero. Signor Veltroni appealed last week to
industry to provide funds for Pompeii, which was "dying a second
death" through neglect. Last year, La Fenice opera theatre in Venice
burnt down and the Baroque cathedral at Noto in Sicily collapsed.
---------------------------
 
Thieves rip altar from Hardy church
A CORNISH church immortalised by Thomas Hardy has had its altar
stolen. St Juliot's near Boscastle is the latest in a series of
remote West Country churches to be targeted by thieves feeding a
market for artefacts and furniture with a religious connection.
Besides the altar table and cloth, the thieves stole two wooden
bishop's chairs, a 20in crucifix, two brass vases and two brass
candlesticks, worth a total of £2,000. Like most churches in
Cornwall, it had been left unlocked. A Victorian safe that had been
unused for decades was prised from the vestry wall with a pickaxe and
abandoned when the thieves realised the church plate was stored
elsewhere. Hardy was sent to St Juliot's as a young draughtsman in
1870 to draw up plans for the restoration of the 15th-century church.
He fell in love with the rector's sister-in-law, Emma Gifford, and
they married four years later. Olive Blackburn, a leading member of
the Thomas Hardy Society, who recently visited Boscastle with 40
other enthusiasts, said: "I'm sure Hardy would have found it
sickening." Hardy, who was born in 1840, arrived at St Juliot's at a
critical period in his career as an author. Mrs Blackburn said: "He
felt like giving it all up because he wasn't getting anywhere. Then
he met Emma Gifford. They had a lot in common. They were both
artistic, particularly with their love for music. It was she that
persuaded him to continue with his writing." Miss Gifford's parents
were against the match because Hardy was making little money. But she
stuck by him and in 1874, the year that Far from the Madding Crowd
was published, they married in London. His period in Cornwall was
described in his most autobiographical novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes, in
which he wrote of the church: "The lonely edifice was black and bare,
cutting up into the sky from the profile of the hill ... of one
substance with the ridge, rather than a structure raised thereon." He
also recreated St Juliot's and its magical setting nearly 40 years
later in his most poignant group of poems, the Veretis vestigiae
flammae (Vestiges of an Old Flame). More than 20 Cornish churches
have been raided over the past few months. Police believe the same
culprits were responsible for many of the attacks. A spokesman for
Devon and Cornwall Constabulary said: "These crimes are clearly
connected, but the culprit is chancing his luck with whatever he
finds. Sometimes it's just been food, in which case a lot of damage
was done. At other times, as with St Juliot's, he took away a lot
more." Philip Taylor, St Juliot's churchwarden, said he was
devastated when he discovered the break-in on Friday afternoon. "I'm
extremely fond of the church. When I came into the church and saw the
destruction and damage that had been caused, I could almost have
cried. It's the worst thing to have happened to the church in 600
years." Jeremy Dowling, spokesman for Truro Diocese, said: "In this
county, we do not want to lock our churches. They are meant to be
open for those people who need a moment of prayer or quiet
contemplation. But the guidelines are quite strict. St Juliot's is
insured, but we recommend that all valuables are removed when
there is no service." Other recent targets include St Sidwel's,
Launceston, which was broken into last week by thieves who caused
several hundred pounds of damage and stole several items. At St
Ladoca, Ladock, £100 damage was caused when the collection box was
forced open. Thieves caused £1,500 damage at St Gulval's, Penzance,
on Thursday when they smashed through the main stained-glass window,
yet found nothing more to steal than a packet of biscuits. The Rev
Alan Toy said: "When the church is damaged or violated in this way,
people feel a personal violation, just as though it was their own
home that was burgled."
--------------------
 
Vandalism and theft cost insurer £5 million a year
BY RUTH GLEDHILL, RELIGION CORRESPONDENT
THE latest figures on church theft reveal that the days when
churches were considered sacrosanct, even by criminals, are long
gone. Thefts and other attacks on churches have risen by more than 50
per cent in the past eight years, and are still increasing. Arson,
theft and vandalism on Church of England buildings alone costs the
Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, which covers most of them, £5
million a year. On average there are 17 attacks a day on churches.
Arson accounts for nearly half the insurance costs, although
vandalism and theft represent 99 per cent of the attacks.
Brian King, of Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, said that the true
cost was far higher than the cost to insurers. "Most church
valuables are insured for their replacement and not their antique
value," he said. "If a silver Jacobean chalice is stolen, we replace
it only with a modern chalice. The loss to our heritage is the real
hidden cost of this. Most churches would not be able to afford the
cost of insuring something for its antique value." Churches are now
introducing schemes along the lines of neighbourhood watch with the
co-operation of the local police. Churches in the Liverpool, Coventry
and Bath and Wells dioceses are protected by church watch schemes.
Closed-circuit television and infra-red burglary protection have been
installed in some churches and, increasingly, valuable goods are
locked away and replicas put on display.
------------------------
 
Looters pillage church art in Assisi
FROM RICHARD OWEN IN ROME
THE two Franciscan friars killed in Friday's Umbria quake were
buried at Assisi yesterday amid reports that pieces of damaged art
works, including a great 13th-century fresco by Cimabue destroyed
in the disaster, are being sold on the black market. The Pope, who
has expressed his "intense grief" over the tragedy, sent Cardinal
Roger Etchegaray of France - a leading candidate for the papal
succession - to preside over the funeral of Father Angelo Api, 48,
and Borowec Zazislaw, a 24-year-old novice from Poland who had only
been in Assisi for a few days. The two friars were crushed by masonry
when a second earthquake struck Assisi last Friday morning while they
were examining damage in the Basilica of Saint Francis caused by the
first earthquake during the night. Two art surveyors employed by the
office of the Umbria Superintendent of Fine Arts, Bruno Brunacci, 40,
and Claudio Bugiantella, 45, were also killed by rubble when the
great vaulted ceiling collapsed. They were buried on Sunday, amid
claims by their relatives that the authorities should not have
allowed inspection teams inside the basilica while there was a
serious risk of a second earthquake. The Italian Government has set
aside $500 million (£312 million) for the relief effort in Umbria and
Marche, and leading fashion designers such as Armani, Ferre and Santo
Versace have also contributed substantial sums. Experts said it would
be some weeks before the true extent of the damage to the basilica
was known. But the Franciscans hope to reopen the lower church, which
contains the undamaged tomb of the saint, in time for celebrations of
the feast day of St Francis on Saturday. About 30,000 pilgrims are
expected, and police are planning intensive security measures.
Antonio Paolucci, the former Culture Minister who is overseeing
the restoration, said repairs to the upper church, where works by
Giotto and Cimabue were damaged, would take months.
Police said they were concerned that tourists were picking up
rubble and fragments of ruined buildings as souvenirs. All the
churches have now been shut, with armed guards placed on the doors
and gates for fear of looting. Services are held in the open.
The police said thieves were attempting to profit from the
tragedy, and the going rate for a yellow-and-blue fragment of the
destroyed Cimabue fresco, The Four Evangelists, was said to be
£200. "It is being sold off like bits of the Berlin Wall," the
Corriere della Sera newspaper said. Giorgio Bartolini, the Mayor of
Assisi, said he had wanted to close the centre of the hilltop town to
visitors, but businesses had objected. About 80 per cent of Assisi's
revenue derives from tourism, and it is Italy's fourth most popular
destination after Rome, Venice and Florence. The 28 celebrated
frescoes by Giotto on the Life of St Francis are intact, although
they are covered in dust and the extent of any damage will not be
known until they are cleaned. Sixty square yards of frescoes in the
nave have been destroyed. Some are thought to be by the young Giotto.
The authorities have stepped up security to guard retrieved
fragments. Restorers, many of them volunteers, are using
painstaking, labour-intensive techniques similar to those used
after the Second World War in historic cities such as Padua. "It is
a labour of love," Signor Paolucci said. "They are saving tiny
painted fragments. But the frescoes will never be the same again."
Seismologists said the damage would have been worse if the lower
church had not absorbed the vibrations. About 80 per cent of the
housing in Assisi was damaged, and 40 per cent of the housing in
surrounding areas has been evacuated. Thousands of local residents,
many elderly, are continuing to spend the chilly nights in
temporary shelters. The homeless bitterly complain that the world
is more concerned about the Giotto and Cimabue frescoes than about
homeless human beings.
-----------------------------
 
(ConsDisList)
 
From: Niccolo Caldararo <caldararo@aol.com>
Subject: Library vandalism
Anne Pat Smith <smith@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu> writes
>Library administrators have been working closely with the
>University's Campus Security personnel in an effort to stop this
>vandalism
 
I do believe that fingerprints can be retrieved from paper of
various kinds. Prints from the pages of all the mutilated books
could be studied and those found to be associated with mutilated
books in your library and others would point the finger (no pun) to a
possible source and would eliminate innocent users. One must keep in
mind the old Roman Maxim on justice nevertheless, "Better the guilty
go free than the innocent be unjustly punished."
 
Niccolo Caldararo
----------------------
the National Monument Fairness Act severely weakens the Antiquities
Act of 1906
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 1997
CONTACT: (202) 223-6722, Kathy Westra, ext. 121 or Vicki Paris, ext.
120
Congress could act as early as tomorrow on the National Monument
Fairness Act, H.R. 1127, a bill that would severely weaken the
Antiquities Act of 1906. H.R. 1127, introduced by Representative Jim
Hansen (R-UT) would severely limit the power the President has to
protect public lands containing objects of historic, scientific, or
scenic significance to prevent damage from such activities as mining,
timber cutting, cattle grazing, and uncontrolled development.
Currently the President can act quickly to reserve or withdraw
public lands from imminent threats. Hansen's bill would obstruct
presidential proclamation of monuments exceeding 50,000 acres in a
single state in a single year, through a cumbersome consultation
process with governors, state legislatures, and prior congressional
approval. Twenty-three concerned organizations, known collectively
as The Antiquities Act Defense Coalition, have circulated a letter
opposing this bill to members of Congress stating that without the
Antiquities Act and subsequent ratification and support from Congress
originally, the modern National Park System would not exist. The Act
has been used to ensure the initial protection of the Grand Canyon,
Denali, the Petrified Forest, Glacier Bay, Olympic, and Acadia. Each
of these monuments was then designated by Congress as a National
Park. NOTE TO EDITORS: The full text of the coalition letter is
attached. National Parks and Conservation Association, The American
Cultural Resources Association, CEHP, Inc., Defenders of Wildlife,
Environmental Information Center, Friends of the Earth, The Garden
Club of America, Grand Canyon Trust, Isaak Walton League, Keepers of
the Treasures, National Association for African American Heritage
Preservation, National Hispanic Environmental Council, National Trust
for Historic Preservation, Native American Rights Fund, Natural
Resources Defense Council, Scenic America, The Society for Historical
Archaeology, The Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, Society for
American Archaeology, USPIRG, The Wilderness Society, Southern Utah
Wilderness Alliance, Western Ancient Forests Campaign
 
September 24, 1997
Dear Member of Congress:
You previously received a "Dear Colleague" letter from Rep. Jim
Hansen (R-UT), soliciting cosponsors for the National Monument
Fairness Act, H.R. 1127. The bill, which has been reported from the
House Resources Committee, would severely weaken the Antiquities Act
of 1906, one of the most important conservation laws ever enacted by
Congress. The undersigned organizations urge you to oppose H.R. 1127
should it come to the House floor for a vote.
Since its enactment, 13 U.S. presidents have used the Antiquities Act
to proclaim 105 national monuments that protect outstanding federal
lands from such threats as mining, logging, oil drilling, and
uncontrolled development. The Act ensured the protection of the Grand
Canyon, Denali, the Petrified Forest, Glacier Bay, Olympic, Acadia,
and other American treasures, many of which Congress later designated
as national parks. Without the Act, and its subsequent ratification
and support by Congress, the modern National Park System would not
have come into being. If H.R. 1127 becomes law, this nation's ability
to shield other significant, sensitive public lands from harmful uses
will be severely hampered.
The following questions and answers clarify some of the misleading
information that has been circulating about the Antiquities Act.
 
1. What does the Antiquities Act do?
The Act gives the President the authority to "withdraw" federal lands
from harmful actions that threaten the historic and scientific
resources of the areas. The President accomplishes this withdrawal by
issuing a proclamation that designates an area as a "national
monument."
 
2. Why did Congress enact the Antiquities Act in 1906?
The Act was initially enacted to provide a rapid means of response to
imminent private exploitation of public lands, particularly looting
and the destruction of ancient Native-American artifacts and
structures in the Southwest. However, the law was not confined to
these places and, from the outset, has been employed to protect a wide
range of natural, cultural, and scientifically significant objects.
An early example of the Act's use was the designation of the Grand
Canyon as a national monument.
 
3. How is the rationale behind H.R. 1127 flawed?
Under the Antiquities Act, the President has full authority to act
decisively when necessary. H.R. 1127 would require the President to
consult with affected governors and state legislatures, allowing them
a 90-day comment period for any proposed national monument that
exceeds 50,000 acres. After this period, or, if no comments are
received, 180 days after consultation, the President could submit the
proposed proclamation to Congress for approval.
 
These provisions are beguilingly reasonable at first glance, but, in
effect, the consultation and prior approval requirements under H.R.
1127 are so cumbersome and time-consuming they would defeat the
purpose of the Act--which is to enable the President to act swiftly to
protect sensitive federal lands from immediate harm. H.R. 1127 would
open the door to the claims of developers, mining operators, and
others, leading to the degradation of unique federal lands and
resources. Additionally, the 50,000 acre limitation is entirely
arbitrary, bearing no relationship to the appropriate amount of land
that should be set aside in a specific situation.
 
4. What about public participation?
Even in the most controversial cases in which presidents have invoked
the Antiquities Act, public debate and congressional and state
consultations have preceded presidential proclamations. The
President's authority to issue national monument proclamations is used
ONLY when harm to important public resources is clear. Of course,
Congress retains authority to reverse or modify this designation at
any time.
 
Additionally, it must be remembered that the lands withdrawn are
federal lands, owned by all Americans, not just the residents of the
states or localities in which they are located. The nation, not just a
single state, has a vital interest in the future of these lands and
their unique qualities.
 
5. Have any U.S. presidents invoked the Antiquities Act
inappropriately?
Since the 1940s, only 21 national monuments have been proclaimed, 15
of which were created in Alaska by President Carter. The sparing
application of the Act since World War II is testimony to the great
care and thought presidents have demonstrated in employing the
Antiquities Act.
 
The majority of presidential proclamations have occurred with
substantial notice and even at congressional urging; none of the
proclamations should have come as a surprise. When Congress adjourned
just before a seven-year, congressionally-established withdrawal of
Alaskan lands was to terminate, President Carter proclaimed 15 Alaska
national monuments and preserved future congressional options.
President Clinton declared the Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument in Utah, containing 1.7 million acres, because of the
potential for a massive mining operation. The area had been
recommended for special protection by a Utah State Senate study
commission as early as 1935.
 
6. Haven't more recent statutes made the Antiquities Act obsolete?
Proponents of H.R. 1127 argue that statutes such as the National
Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the Federal Land Protection
and Management Act (FLPMA) are more up to date, providing better
protection for public resources and a more complete public
participation process.
 
NEPA and FLPMA are intended for entirely different purposes than the
Antiquities Act, which enables a quick response to threats against
public lands. FLPMA does not provide the assurance of long-term
protection under its emergency powers, and provides no authority for
National Park Service management. NEPA is an analytical tool
involving a public involvement process. It affords no authority to
protect unique federal lands and resources threatened by immediate
development.
 
7. What if Congress disagrees with a president's proclamation?
The Antiquities Act confers only the authority to withdraw threatened
lands.
Congress has always had the authority to determine the funding and
management terms of a national monument, to change its status, and
even to reverse a national monument designation. Of the 70 million
acres of national monuments proclaimed since 1906, Congress has
increased the size of over 40 monuments, and repealed just 5,000
acres.
 
While there has been much heated debate regarding President Clinton's
proclamation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument last
year, we do not believe that disagreement over a particular
proclamation should be the basis for changing an Act that for 90 years
has served to protect the lands that belong to us all.
 
Those wishing to alter the Act would abandon its long history of
effectiveness. The Antiquities Act has withstood the test of time.
The Act has been the subject of federal court action, which left the
Act undisturbed, and except for two minor revisions, so has Congress.
The Act should remain intact, as a tool to protect federal lands that
contain extraordinary scientific, scenic, and historical significance.
We urge your opposition to H.R. 1127.
-------------------------------