Museum Security website statistics; over 1000 hits per week

November 18 and 19, 1999

CONTENTS:


- Re: art insurance
- Re: millennium concerns (Steve Keller)
- Vandal Sentenced For Writing Name On Rock-Art Panel
- Mona Lisa to get a room of her own (But the painting will retain its bulletproof glass shield)
- Thirst for money taints Cambodia's spiritual treasure
- query: development of fire codes for museums
- Call for papers - Prevention of Hazards in Storage Areas " PREVENTION OF HAZARDS IN STORAGE AREAS " 6-10 NOVEMBER 2000
- query: Computer controlled ticket system

From: John Nichols jnichols@AFAWEB.ORG
Subject:

Re: art insurance

American Federation of Arts

I hope we can help you save some time and money on fine art insurance and transportation. The American Federation of Arts, a nonprofit museum services organization, provides low-cost fine arts insurance and transportation to its membership of over 550 art museums throughout North America and abroad. If you have any questions about the AFA, call us at 800-232-0270, extension 39. Meanwhile, I've included a brief description of what we have to offer.
Best wishes,
John W. Nichols
Director of Museum Services

ARTSURE Insurance

Save time and money with the most convenient and affordable approach to insure museum collections and temporary loans. Effective January 1, 1998, ARTSURE will issue only annual blanket policies for one low rate to cover all of your insurance needs! ARTSURE eliminates the necessity for separate scheduled policies for specific exhibitions. Our lowest $500 policy offers $200,000 in coverage at the insured=s premises, as well as for any loss or disaster while in transit on any one conveyance within the United States and Canada, or while at an other location within the United States and Canada. One policy covers it all with a low $250 deductible! Huntington T. Bolck Insurance Agency, Inc. is the AFA's exclusive ARTSURE carrier.
For more information contact our ARTSURE representative at 800-424-8830.

VANGO Surface Tranportation

Enjoy a 10% savings on all interstate surface transportation for fine art. First time carrier users receive a 15% discount on the first shipment. Fortress-FAE Worldwide is AFA's exclusive VANGO carrier, with a national network of locations to serve you.
For more information contact our VANGO representative at 800-370-2312.

AIRGO Flight Transportation

Receive a 10% discount on a comprehensive selection of airfreight services for fine art including international & domestic documentation, airport supervision and Courier assistance. Plus AIRGO users will not be charged for domestic forwarding and will also have a waiver of collection and remittance charges. Fortress-FAE Worldwide is AFA's exclusive AIRGO carrier
For more information contact our AIRGO representative 800-370-2312. The AFA is a nonprofit art museum service organization that provides traveling art exhibitions, in addition to educational, professional an technical support programs developed in collaboration the museum community. Through these programs, the AFA seeks to strengthen the ability of museums to enrich the public's experience and understanding of art.

From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject:

Re: millennium concerns

So far I have received only six replies to my millennium concerns post. Five have said that they intend to have people on site and one was a client of mine who indicated that he suggested it and was perceived as paranoid but will still be present at midnight. One museum responding is having a special event with 300 to 400 people at a party so they will have plenty of people on site. One is having a whole management team on duty and spouses are invited for refreshments. One is having several major department heads on duty.
I'll keep you posted if there are more replies.
My greatest concern is that someone will use confusion of Y2K to break in, in the event that there are problems. I have real concerns about the 911 phone system being able to handle the calls and also I have concerns that if the phone system is overloaded at midnight, digital dialers will not be able to communicate alarms to the central station. I have suggested to several clients that they ask city police for a walkie talkie to be dropped off at 11:45 pm and picked up at 12:15 am just in case communication services fail. Don't count on the cellular system (not that I think it will fail but if the landlines fail due to everyone picking up the phone to see if they have a dial tone, so will cellular services).
My residential community will be having a community watch where several residents will patrol just in case someone decides to target homes if there is a problem. After all, most people will withdraw cash prior to the holiday and have it under their matresses while they are partying New Year's Eve. So if residential communities are exercising due care of this type, so should a museum. After all, the precaution should begin close to midnight and end immediately thereafter if the lights stay on and phones still work. It's not a big deal. (By the time you reach my--and Tom Cremer's age-- you can't stay awake until midnight, anyway, without an emergency!)
Steve Keller

Vandal Sentenced For Writing Name On Rock-Art Panel

http://www.sltrib.com/1999/nov/11111999/utah/46081.htm
BY SHAWN FOSTER
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
A California man was sentenced to a year probation Wednesday for scratching his name on a panel of prehistoric pictographs in San Juan County. The panel is in Montezuma Creek Canyon east of Monticello on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The site contains several hundred images -- in four colors -- on a 120-foot-wide wall. Three prehistoric periods are represented, and some of the pictures date back to at least 2,500 years ago. Sotero Oviedo, 49, a native of Mexico who is a legal resident of the United States, vandalized the panel between Aug. 22, 1997, and Sept. 24, 1997. He was temporarily working in San Juan County on a drilling and mapping project. Sharon Preston, Oviedo's attorney, described her client as a "model immigrant." "He's a decent man," Preston said in U.S. District Court. "He had a third-grade education. He never knew what he was doing was a crime, and he will never write his name on a rock again." Assistant U. S. Attorney Wayne Dance agreed that Oviedo seems to be a good man, and Dance also acknowledged Oviedo's scrawl did not damage actual images. But the seriousness of the crime, he said, cannot be minimized. "Several hundred images were painted on the rock by people of several cultures and several generations," Dance said, "not over decades, not over centuries, but over millennia." Employees had informed Oviedo and other crew members about the legal protection of archaeological sites that they may encounter. And, Spanish-language interpreters were on hand to translate for some of the crew. Workers signed forms indicating that they understood the law, and that they would not violate any prehistoric areas. Even so, federal officials estimate that Oviedo did nearly $8,000 in damage. The company he worked for has paid more than $7,800 to the government, and Oviedo has agreed to pay $837 to reimburse federal workers for overtime expenses in investigating the case. In a plea agreement, one of two felony counts was dropped. Oviedo pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating the federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act -- a crime, Preston said, that will not get Oviedo deported. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson remained baffled as to why the Mexican laborer would scratch his name on the rock-art panel. "It is a mystery why he would choose to do this," Benson said. "What possessed him to do it, I don't know."

Mona Lisa to get a room of her own

By Matthew Green
PARIS (Reuters) - The Mona Lisa will move from a crowded gallery to a room of her own in Paris's Louvre within three years, the museum said Wednesday. The museum wants to allow a more lingering look to the hordes of visitors who jostle for a glimpse of the painting, which now hangs alongside other 16th-century Venetian works, said Louvre director Pierre Rosenberg. ``There will always be too many people looking at the Mona Lisa,'' he told reporters at a briefing in the gallery, famed for its modern glass pyramid entrance. The existing Venetian gallery will be divided in two and a smaller room will be set aside for Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. ``There will be daylight coming from both sides,'' Rosenberg said. But the painting will retain its bulletproof glass shield. ``Everyone dreams of having the picture to themselves, without any glass, without any security. On the other hand we have to protect the picture,'' he said. The Mona Lisa has developed a brown tinge from 500 years of grime and chemical changes in the varnish covering its surface, and some experts believe restoration would lighten the enigmatic woman's complexion. But Rosenberg said the risks of damaging the painting were too great for the time being: ``If you do things too early you cannot turn back.'' Japan's NTV television agreed to provide about $4 million in March last year for the Mona Lisa's new room. ``The Louvre has high prestige in Japan, far bigger than in any other place in the world,'' Rosenberg said.
Reuters/Variety
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991117/en/art-monalisa_1.html

Thirst for money taints Cambodia's spiritual treasure

FOR many Cambodians, Phnom Kulen is the country's most sacred site. It was here, in 802, that King Jayavarman II proclaimed himself King of Kings and sole ruler of what was to become the great Angkorian empire, covering much of South-East Asia. He crowned himself as the reincarnation of the Hindu god, Shiva, enshrining the concept of Cambodia's monarchs as god-kings. The ancient ruler would be horrified to see that the birthplace of the great Khmer empire is now a thriving commercial enterprise. Profit, rather than safeguarding national heritage, is the driving factor. Steep entrance fees - UKP. 12 for foreigners - are demanded by soldiers at the entrance to the mountain site. Inside, the area is strewn with litter. Hawkers selling medicinal herbs and barks, souvenirs, food and drink line the narrow paths leading to a huge reclining Buddha - the biggest in Cambodia. Until recently, Phnom Kulen, in the northwestern province of Siem Reap, was off-limits to most visitors. The site, once controlled by the Khmer Rouge, has not been officially opened, but thousands have flocked to it. During the Cambodian new year in April, some 10,000 people visited the mountain. In the-ory, it is a protected national park. In reality, it is controlled by the military, who have asked one of Siem Reap's MPs, Seang Nam, to help to develop the site. The MP, a successful hotelier who also runs a construction and road-building company, soon had a road cut into the mountainside. Previously, the summit could be reached only after a two-and-a-half hour trek through the forest; now, it is a 45-minute drive to the top. Huts have been built for picnickers along a waterfall and signs have been erected urging no littering. Seang Nam has plans for an hotel and a helipad. "I'll send engineers to see if the archaeological site can be developed. It depends on the Government, but I'm optimistic," he said. But Seang Nam denies that he has made any personal profit, saying that all the income has been reinvested in the site. He also sees no contradiction in a private company working on the protected national site, pointing out that a gas company has been put in charge of ticket sales for the 9th-to-12th-century temples of Angkor, a World Heritage Site. "The Government has no money; they need people like me with the means to develop these sites," the MP said. "It's a holy place, a sacred site; but 80 to 90 per cent of Cambodians have never been able to see it. Now the soldiers have cleared the area of landmines, it's completely safe." But Veng Sereyvuth, the Tourism Minister, is not happy with developments at Phnom Kulen. "I'm very concerned about the area. We should have a master plan in place to develop the site because of its significance for Cambodians. It's a sacred place, a former royal city." At Kbal Spean, also in the Kulen mountains, looters have been gouging out basreliefs of deities, including Vishnu lying on a serpent, carved into the riverbed and in rocks along the river. Many of Cambodia's antiquities have turned up in Thai antique shops. While the squabbling continues over which agency manages the sites, the reality is that, unless more money is spent on policing the temples, there may not be much left for tourists to look at.
http://www.the-times.co.uk/

From: ECansino@aol.com
Subject:

query: development of fire codes for museums

I am a John Jay College Student,in New York City, researching museum disaster preparedness. I am currently looking for books or any type of material (journals, newspaper articles) dealing with the development of fire codes for museums.
Should any one have any info.
please e-mail me @:ECansino@aol.com
Thank you.

From: "Jullien, V." Jullien.icom@unesco.org
Subject:

Call for papers - Prevention of Hazards in Storage Areas

PREVENTION 2000 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
" PREVENTION OF HAZARDS IN STORAGE AREAS " 6-10 NOVEMBER 2000

With the support of the International Committee of Blue Shield (ICBS)

CALL FOR PAPERS

Place of Congress : DRAGUIGNAN (FRANCE)
Date : 6-10 November 2000.
Languages : English and French (translation provided).
Audience : Professionnals in Museums, Archives, Librairies, Historic Monuments and Sites.

Submition of papers :

A summary of one page maximum, in English or in French, should be sent, along with key words, for example : - Air, Water, Fire, War, Earth. - Archives, Librairies, Museums, Monuments, Sites. - Training, Evacuation Plans, Research.....
Deadline for submition of papers :
February the 28th 2000
-----------------------
SEND YOUR ABSTRACTS TO :
PREVENTION 2000 CONGRESS
19 RUE FREDERIC MIREUR, 83300 DRAGUIGNAN (FRANCE)
Tél. 33.(0)4.94.68.90.15 Fax 33.(0)4.94.85.04.04
Email : cav@cav-recherches.org
http://www.cav-recherches.org

Surname :
First Name :
Address :
Institution :
Phone :
Fax :
Email :
Thank you for giving that information to your colleages

From: LDC@birch-krogboe.dk
Subject:

Computer controlled ticket system

From Lars D. Christoffersen, Birch & Krogboe, Museum Consultants, Denmark.
"We are urgently seeking information about computer controlled ticket systems for museums and evaluation of expected waiting lines. The systems we are seeking must include at least a two level system for handling both a permanent exhibition and temporary exhibitions and track-keeping of number of guest total and the current number present in the collections. If you have any kind of experiences or other informations, please mail me at ldc@birch-krogboe.dk
Thank you in advance.
Lars