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Craig Hill
Oracle of DelphiArt thieves looting Italy's churches
November 1st 2006 22:57
I thought art thieves only existed in black and white movies. How wrong was I. Not only is Italy overrun with such scoundrels but it looks like they're bored with stealing priceless art from the country's countless museums. Italy's cultural heritage is now facing a new threat from thieves who are looting churches and selling their treasures on the black market, according to the head of the country's art theft squad.
The thieves have turned to plundering churches for religious artefacts since a clampdown on the pillaging of ancient sites. Accords reached with many international museums have seen the return to Italy of illegally exported antiquities and thieves are looking elsewhere to find items to sell to collectors, said General Ugo Zottin, the head of the carabinieri cultural heritage protection unit.
Some churches haven even been been considering asking tourists to pay a small fee to go towards protecting their contents while others restrict opening times and have volunteers present to keep an eye on visitors. Other churches, however, are against security measures in a religious setting.
The trend was revealed at the opening of a new show in Rome featuring stolen treasures recovered by the carabinieri art theft squad. The exhibition at the regional government's revamped headquarters in the 18th century Palazzo Incontro in Rome includes more than 100 artefacts.
Works including a painting of St Margaret of Antioch that went missing from the Church of St Peter in Chains in Rome were on display.
The thieves have turned to plundering churches for religious artefacts since a clampdown on the pillaging of ancient sites. Accords reached with many international museums have seen the return to Italy of illegally exported antiquities and thieves are looking elsewhere to find items to sell to collectors, said General Ugo Zottin, the head of the carabinieri cultural heritage protection unit.
Some churches haven even been been considering asking tourists to pay a small fee to go towards protecting their contents while others restrict opening times and have volunteers present to keep an eye on visitors. Other churches, however, are against security measures in a religious setting.
The trend was revealed at the opening of a new show in Rome featuring stolen treasures recovered by the carabinieri art theft squad. The exhibition at the regional government's revamped headquarters in the 18th century Palazzo Incontro in Rome includes more than 100 artefacts.
Works including a painting of St Margaret of Antioch that went missing from the Church of St Peter in Chains in Rome were on display.
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