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Crime wave threatens Russian art heritage
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hen...@my-dejanews.com
Jul 25, 1998, 3:00:00 AM7/25/98
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In article <m0yzWs9...@mail.glas.apc.org>,
"nikst" <ni...@glasnet.ru> wrote:
> The Times (UK)
> 23 July 1998
>
> Crime wave threatens Russian art heritage
>
> Anatoli Vilkov, of the Russian Culture Ministry, displays two stolen
> paintings, each worth about £20,000, recovered after they were offered
> for auction in London in 1996. Police are investigating 2,500 similar
> thefts of paintings, icons, rare books and cultural treasures as a wave
> of crime has put much of Russia's priceless art heritage at risk
> (Michael Binyon writes).
>
> Yuri Isayenko, a senior investigator at the Interior Ministry, told a
> press conference that about 30,000 artistic treasures and cultural
> artefacts had been stolen in the past two decades, most in an "explosion
> of crime" after the collapse of communism in 1991. Old coins and
> archaeological finds also fetched high prices on the black market, he
> said. The Orthodox Church is a particular target. Hundreds of village
> churches have been plundered, with thieves threatening clergy and
> ransacking poorly guarded places of worship in search of icons, vessels,
> vestments and decorations. A spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate said:
> "Recently a thief tried to rob a church in Moscow while a service was
> going on, and even got to the altar to steal censers before he was
> caught." The treasures are usually smuggled abroad to be sold to rich
> Western collectors. But so many icons have now left Russia that the
> Western market is sated. Foreign connoisseurs are instead trying to buy
> paintings and classical Russian art from the last century, Mr Isayenko
> said. Russia has recently begun a vigorous campaign to identify its
> stolen works, using courts and police channels to ensure their return.
> Any stolen work worth more than $1,000 (£600) is now routinely reported
> to Interpol. The recovery of the two £20,000 paintings, which was
> reported on Tuesday, was a modest victory.
>
> Mr Vilkov, head of the Culture Ministry's department for the protection
> of cultural treasures, said the paintings had been stolen from a museum
> in 1992 and were spotted at Sotheby's and Christie's auctions in 1996.
> They had previously been sold at auction in Finland, but no one had
> realised they were stolen.
>
> ********
Hmm - does this mean that Russia will also return all of the art treasures
plundered from every nation they occupied recently?
"nikst" <ni...@glasnet.ru> wrote:
> The Times (UK)
> 23 July 1998
>
> Crime wave threatens Russian art heritage
>
> Anatoli Vilkov, of the Russian Culture Ministry, displays two stolen
> paintings, each worth about £20,000, recovered after they were offered
> for auction in London in 1996. Police are investigating 2,500 similar
> thefts of paintings, icons, rare books and cultural treasures as a wave
> of crime has put much of Russia's priceless art heritage at risk
> (Michael Binyon writes).
>
> Yuri Isayenko, a senior investigator at the Interior Ministry, told a
> press conference that about 30,000 artistic treasures and cultural
> artefacts had been stolen in the past two decades, most in an "explosion
> of crime" after the collapse of communism in 1991. Old coins and
> archaeological finds also fetched high prices on the black market, he
> said. The Orthodox Church is a particular target. Hundreds of village
> churches have been plundered, with thieves threatening clergy and
> ransacking poorly guarded places of worship in search of icons, vessels,
> vestments and decorations. A spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate said:
> "Recently a thief tried to rob a church in Moscow while a service was
> going on, and even got to the altar to steal censers before he was
> caught." The treasures are usually smuggled abroad to be sold to rich
> Western collectors. But so many icons have now left Russia that the
> Western market is sated. Foreign connoisseurs are instead trying to buy
> paintings and classical Russian art from the last century, Mr Isayenko
> said. Russia has recently begun a vigorous campaign to identify its
> stolen works, using courts and police channels to ensure their return.
> Any stolen work worth more than $1,000 (£600) is now routinely reported
> to Interpol. The recovery of the two £20,000 paintings, which was
> reported on Tuesday, was a modest victory.
>
> Mr Vilkov, head of the Culture Ministry's department for the protection
> of cultural treasures, said the paintings had been stolen from a museum
> in 1992 and were spotted at Sotheby's and Christie's auctions in 1996.
> They had previously been sold at auction in Finland, but no one had
> realised they were stolen.
>
> ********
Hmm - does this mean that Russia will also return all of the art treasures
plundered from every nation they occupied recently?
Best - - Henry
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Capitan Nemo
Jul 25, 1998, 3:00:00 AM7/25/98
to
Hmm, like what? Any examples?
Serioga
hen...@my-dejanews.com wrote in message
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