Decolonise Russian Museums

Amazing research about stolen treasures from Ukraine. In only two (!) Russian museums journalists have found 110,000 artifacts.

The Stolen Treasures: The 110,000 artifacts from Ukraine found in two Russian museums
The study of the online collections of the Hermitage and the State Historical Museum of Russia by TEXTY revealed 110,000 artifacts that had been exported from the territory of modern Ukraine to Russia in different historical periods. Most of them had been moved to Russia before Ukraine declared independence.
Our study excluded works of art, icons and weapons because their origin is extremely difficult to trace. We also disregarded the items looted during the current war. Finally, our study revealed some of the tricks used to hide valuable objects in Russia [...] Not only are the removed artifacts intended to demonstrate the mythical connection of the modern Russia and the Kyivan Rus, but also to show the deep historical roots of the Russian people who have been trying to appropriate the ancient history of Ukraine, the Paleolithic era, Trypillya culture, the ancient and Scythian era..

A good read and informative infographics, snazzy website. I am not convinced by the argument about the 12th century Vladimir icon, actually a Byzantine work painted in Constantinople (though whether it should be in Mosscow and not Vladimir is less clear to me). There are some very famous pieces here that would be a great asset to Ukraininan museums after the defeat of Russia. They should form part of the post-War reparations, and underline that the times of Russian imperial pretensions to Ukraininan lands and heritage are definitively over.

Louvre puts Evacuated Treasures from Ukraine on Display

 
David Klein, 'Protected from Russian Looting, the Louvre puts Treasures from Ukraine on Display' OCCRP 21 June 2023

The Louvre has revealed that it has been working closely with colleagues in Kyiv for months to remove treasured pieces of Ukraine's artistic and cultural heritage from the country to safety. [...] , since December 2022, Louvre staff have collaborated with their counterparts at the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv to facilitate the transfer of sixteen of the most iconic works from the Ukrainian national collections to France in complete secrecy. At the beginning of the war, the Khanenko Museum, which had already survived the first and second world wars, hid its collection but suffered damage when a missile struck just 40 meters from its walls. Now, five of its works will be publicly displayed in Paris in an exhibition titled "The Origins of the Sacred Image". As the Khanenko Museum specializes in Byzantine and Asian art, the artworks include four wooden icons created in St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in Egypt in the 6th and 7th centuries CE, as well as a mosaic from 13th-century Constantinople.

Not a word here how collectors Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko obtained these works to build what once was among the best private collections of arts and antiques in the Russian Empire (1870s-1917).

More US Fictionalising in Cultural Property Research? [Updated]

     I wonder who or what in Ukraine CHML Director
     Bassett imagines he is "commanding" from Virgina.

While there are very many grounds to be seriously concerned about what is happening in Ukraine, and also about the fate of the cultural heritage in that country, I think we need to be careful to stay within the bounds of the objective truth when talking about it. The old saying about the first casualty of war being the truth should not be applicable in heritage resource research. We saw the distortions happening in the US campaign in Syria, where all sorts of accusations were made that bore no relation to what is/was on the ground and in verifiable sources. Several academic institutions got some nice grant money to "research" these issues - some of them coming up with results that seem to be be of questionable balance. I do not see why we have to tolerate the same thing happening here. 

I am prompted to write this by the shock-horror headline of today's The Observer: "Specialist gang ‘targeting’ Ukrainian treasures for removal to Russia: International academics and digital imaging experts have spotted a pattern in the theft of high-value artefacts" (Vanessa Thorpe Sun 12 Jun 2022 08.00 BST). Is that really what is happening? Ms Thorpe writes:

A specialist gang is smuggling valuable historic artefacts out of Ukraine and into Russia, according to an international team of academics and digital technology experts who are tracking thefts. “There is now very strong evidence this is a purposive Russian move, with specific paintings and ornaments targeted and taken out to Russia,” said Brian Daniels, an anthropologist working with archaeologists, historians and digital imaging specialists. From a laboratory in the US state of Virginia, Daniels and his colleagues have monitored the despoiling and destruction of cultural targets since the invasion began, and have detected patterns in the crimes.

There is some confusion about this "laboratory in the US state of Virginia" where Daniels and his colleagues have been doing the monitoring that led to this conclusion. In an earlier Guardian text by the same Vanessa Thorpe, there is mention of a  "network" (sic) involving  "The Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab, at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville [...] set up last year in partnership with the acclaimed Smithsonian Institution Cultural Rescue Initiative". Dr Brian I. Daniels is listed on the website of the latter ["Brian I. Daniels is the director of research and programs for the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Daniels co-directs the Safeguarding the Heritage of Syria and Iraq Project, which aims to enhance the protection of cultural heritage by supporting professionals and activists in conflict areas, and leads a National Science Foundation-supported study about the intentional destruction of cultural heritage in conflict"]. Hence his interest here, I guess. Meanwhile, the website of the so-called Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab, run by the Virginia Museum of Natural History does not mention him as a member of staff (he also denies being affiliated with them but insists he has plenty of evidence for his claim). The article goes on:

The trail of thefts focuses heavily on precious Scythian gold. These are high-worth ancient filigree pieces, often depicting animals. They were produced by tribes of the area of central Asia and eastern Europe once known as Scythia. “These items are visually stunning, and there are now so many reports of thefts it is evident that it is a strategy,” said Daniels. “The Ukrainians, of course, are also very keen that we establish a list of stolen items.” Daniels told the Observer that it was hard to know if the monetary value was the most important factor for the Russians, or whether the objects were chosen for their cultural significance. “There is a possibility it is all part of undermining the identity of Ukraine as a separate country by implying legitimate Russian ownership of all their exhibits.” What is clear to Daniels is that the thefts tend to follow the menacing interrogation of museum curators and custodians. Russian attempts to locate and steal hidden artefacts in occupied Ukrainian cities are becoming more determined.

I'd like to see this US ("international") orientalising backed up with some actual facts and numbers.

Like, for example, just how many museums have been looted by this alleged gang to date. Among the ten (?) arts institutions that have been damaged or destroyed so far are the Ivankiv Museum in the Kyiv region, the Regional Art Museum in Chernihiv, and the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre Museum and the nearby Hryhoriy Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum. But (as far as we know) the art collections of the City Museum in Kiyiv, Kharkiv and Chernigov were not looted by Russians. Neither was there any looting on museums reported during the concentration of Russian Federation troops around Kyiv (in the regions of Hostomel, Irpin, Bucha). At the time of writing (apart from Crimea), the invading troops of the Russian Federation are only in control of  the eastern and southern fringes of the country, at least part of which had their art collections evacuated when this war began in 2014. So I am not clear where the "Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab" is getting the data from on which these statements are based. 

The Museum in Mariupol was damaged by an airstrike that left paintings exposed to the elements, hanging on walls amid piles of rubble. It was in Mariupol on  April 28th, that city council officials announced that Russian forces had stolen “more than 2,000 unique exhibits from the city’s museums". The items that were taken included, they say, a “unique Torah manuscript” and a “Gospel from 1811 created by the Venetian printing house for the Greeks of Mariupol”, Orthodox icons, 200 medals and three works by Ukrainian realist painter Arkhip Kuindzhi vanished from the painter’s namesake Kuindzhi Art Museum and works of Ivan Aivazovsky. Both painters were born in Ukraine (Aivazovsky in Crimea and Kuindzhi in Mariupol), but are often described as Russian. Other missing works are by Tetyana Yablonska (1917-2005), a politically active Ukrainian painter who was born in Smolensk, Russia, and Mykola Hlushchenko (1901-1977), who lived in Donetsk from a young age but was also born in Russia. It is being claimed that it is significant that "paintings by Western European artists were not [removed]". According to the city council, the Russian forces took the art to Russian-occupied Donetsk. Natalia Kapustnikova, director of Mariupol’s Museum of Local History has been accused of delivering the artworks directly to the Russians, asserting that Kapustnikova, “who knew the exact place of secret storage of masterpieces, personally passed everything from hand to hand”. Whether she received something in return is not stated. Several Mariupol Museums have been heavily damaged by shelling and satellite images show the destruction precisely in the vicinity of the Museums. At least one of these structures has lost part of its roof. To what extent does safeguarding by an occupier become "theft"? 

                    Layla Ibrahimova              

In another case, discussed by me earlier here ('2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Russian Invaders Reportedly Remove Scythian Gold' PACHI Saturday, 30 April 2022, see also 'Melitopol Museum Inventory April 2022 ' PACHI 2nd May 2022), in the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, objects are reported as having been taken by Russians from the city's Museum of Local History. They included Scythian gold artefacts and again medals (of the Soviet period). "Museum workers had hidden the gold in the basement when a squad of armed Russians arrived and took it. Melitopol’s mayor said in a statement that he did not know the current whereabouts of the objects". I suggested in my post that the details of this case differed from what was being reported in most of the external press, much of it based on interpretation of one video report from the museum after the director was apparently replaced. [Early reports about another incident involving the looting of Scythian gold from the museum at Zaporozhia turned out to be a journalists' confusion of the same incident with the wrong museum.]  

Unless Dr Daniels has much more information that has not yet been made public, I really have problems seeing this as "very strong evidence" that this is an organized campaign of "specific paintings and ornaments targeted and taken out to Russia”. Last time I looked, Donetsk is still in Ukraine (and is of course the centre of Donetsk Oblast which Mariupol lies), and it is not in fact clear whether the Melitopol artefacts in fact left the Museum that is apparently now under a new, Russian-appointed, caretaker director. The Museum's original director Leila Ibragimova on 10th March was arrested by armed and uniformed men at her home and led away with a bag on her head and detained. Although it is reported (by Crimean Tatar activist Eskender Bariiev) that she was released the same day, her current whereabouts is unknown, which is a cause for concern. Her detention however may be as much related to her position in the town, and ethnic origins (she is a Crimean Tatar) as to a specific interest in the Museum collection.  

The statement that Vanessa Thorpe seems to be assigning to Dr Daniels: "the trail of thefts focuses heavily on precious Scythian gold" is simple hyperbole. As far as we know only the objects stashed in unlabelled cardboard boxes in a museum cellar  that were retrieved when the Russian appointed director moved in seem to be the only Scythian artefacts involved (so far).  

UPDATE 13.06.202

In the discussion in social media of this text, Dr Daniels  enlarges somewhat

Brian I. Daniels @DrBrianIDaniels
W odpowiedzi do @PortantIssues i @ChasingAphrodit
There is considerable evidence that I hope can be made public in due course. Also, @PortantIssues , I do not work for the Virginia Museum of Natural History’s Cultural Heritage Monitoring Laboratory [now rephrased above - PMB]./ I am in close contact with the VNMH-CHML team and the team at the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative on damage issues. On looting, I’m working directly with the Ukrainian colleagues. I won’t make a public statement that I don’t think can be supported in a court case.

Through the quotes in this article, Dr Daniels has already made public statements, but we are a very long way from winning this war, apprehension of anybody involved, charging and any court case (if ever). Which is why I think abnybody making judgements and then inflamatory statements in our field, need to make the evidence fully available to public opinion. Otherwise we are going to have a repeat of the Syria 2014-8 situation, where to accompany the US bombing campaign the organisation ISIL is accused of antiquity crimes on a huge scale to the near-exclusion of mentions of other groups and distortion of the discussion on the wider phenomemnon in the media, and what is worse, academia.

Utah Education and the Taliban

This is an eyebrow-raising story from the US, which puts some comments in the US media on the  destruction by Islamicist of elements of the cultural partimony they find offensive int a bit of perspective. A parent called police after discovering that a teacher showed nude paintings by Modigliani and Ingres during an art history lesson (Sarah Cascone, 'Utah Elementary School Fires Art Teacher for Showing Students ‘Pornographic’ Paintings' ArtNet News January 2, 2018). Utah art teacher Mateo Rudea was fired by a Utah School after parents objected to his showing sixth-grade (ages 11–12) students post cards of historical paintings, four of which included nudity (Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Amedeo Modigliani, Francois Boucher, and Agnolo Bronzino), They

were part of a set of postcards that depicted 100 art-historical works, reproduced by Phaidon and called the Art Box. It had been purchased as a teaching tool by the school some years ago, [...] [and] features Leonardo da Vinci‘s Mona Lisa and other famous works by Paul Klee, Claude Manet, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Gauguin, J.M.W. Turner, and Vincent van Gogh.  [...] After students spotted the nudes, Rueda took back the cards in question and explained to the class that “‘when you grow up, you’re going to find yourselves going to museums or to places where unavoidably there’s going to be nudity.'”

Or in the bathroom. And just think, such 'pornography' is being openly sold by Amazon with no warning that its only for adults or contains 'explicit images'.

Some parents complained of “classroom pornography” and, within days, Rueda was suspended and then asked to resign. He refused, and was promptly fired.

 An anonymous complaint from a parent also brought the Cache County Sheriff’s Office to the scene. At the school, principal Jeni Buist was found destroying the pictures of nude works from the Art Box and other publications in the school library. 

Rueda said he will appeal his termination. 

“I explained to the whole class that art can sometimes show images that are not always comfortable to all, that art is better understood when placed in its proper context, that the human body is often portrayed in art, and that the images in the school collection are icons of art history and a patrimony of humanity.” As of press time, Rueda, principal Buist, country school district human resources director Kirk McRae, and sheriff Jensen had not responded to artnet News’s request for comment.

Probably out somewhere destroying more images in case kids will see them.

Utah parents, how many have taken their kids to a proper art museum,
or even sat down with them to look through an art book? How many even have one?

Scottish Treasure Discovery: Local Versus 'National' Heritage?

Here is an interesting heritage debate brewing: New campaign backs Galloway Viking treasure bid BBC 22 February 2017. This is about that mid-ninth or tenth century hoard of more than 100 gold and silver objects found by Ayreshire artefact hunter Derek McLennan at an undisclosed location on pastureland owned by the Church of Scotland.

A new campaign is backing a bid to see a Viking treasure hoard discovered in Dumfries and Galloway go on display in the region. The Galloway Viking Hoard Campaign (GVHC) wants to see the items put in a new Kirkcudbright art gallery. Dumfries and Galloway Council is attempting to secure the treasure for the region. The GVHC said it was concerned a bid by National Museums Scotland could see the items end up in Edinburgh. The final decision on where the artefacts are diplayed lies with the Treasure Trove Panel. Cathy Agnew, who chairs the campaign which launched this week, said:

"This is a time for Scotland to take the lead. The Galloway Viking hoard is quite extraordinary and should have pride of place in a specially created exhibition space in the new Kirkcudbright art gallery. Remarkable finds have so often been whisked away from the communities where they were discovered only to become a small feature in a large national museum. This is a very old-fashioned approach and in 2017 we should be making sure that regions fully benefit from their cultural riches."

She said the collection could be a "powerful magnet" to bring in visitors. David Devereux, GVHC vice chair, said: "Some of the items in the hoard are of breathtaking beauty and could become icons for the region, spurring people across the world to discover more about its distinctive past - and the people, lives, cultures and kingdoms that existed before Scotland was born." [...] National Museums Scotland has described the find as of "considerable national and international significance". It said that if it acquired the hoard it would save it for the nation and ensure it was seen by "people from Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally".

Flimflam from the Coineys and the Responsible Art Trade

US import restrictions on icons and other Byzantine ecclesiastical material from Greece remain in force. It is not clear if lobbyists from the trade in such items are kicking up such a fuss as the jerks that sell dugup antiquities. Any Baltimore illegal import stunts and flimflam over "first found in -ooops-I've-lost-the-documentation-again" on the horizon from these dealers? Or do they just get the paperwork together?

Selling Chalk for Cheese in Washington

National Treasures, artefacts seized in bust (Art Newspaper)

In Washington they quite often sell you chalk for cheese it seems, so often that even some cultural property lawyers there cannot tell the difference. Yesterday there was the news that Greece had stopped a ring of armed criminals who were supplying the German, Swiss and Austrian markets with undocumented freshly-surfaced material (the same markets as some of his dealer-clients supply themselves from). The lawyer, reading this, in order to deflect attention from the fact that the market should be taking steps to avoid selling to collectors material sourced from armed criminal gangs, tweeted the following:

Peter Tompa ‏@Aurelius161180 6 godz.6 godzin temu

@IvanMacquist The coins look to be of modest value. Greece should focus on protecting national treasures and institute a PAS for coins.

1) One wonders what they teach in US lawyer-schools. The whole basis (starting point) of the 1970 UNESCO Convention (of which the US is a state party) is that it is an agreement between states that each sovereign state has the right to define for itself what it considers the cultural heritage which it protects from 'Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership'. It is not up to the US (still less a US collector) to say what Greece "should" or "should not" be allowed to do. It should be noted that there are no provisions in the 1970 Convention to allow challenging these definitions, what a nation considers to be the cultural heritage of its citizens is non-negotiable.

2) I cannot see enough of the coins in the police photo to see what they are, so I wonder what the source of the information is that the coins seized were of little value. Is Mr Tompa (a collector of Greek coins himself) in contact with the dealer to whom they were being shipped when seized"

"ignore the guns"

The 'value' of goods on the market is not any criterion for whether they should be being sold by armed criminal gangs to dealers who then sell them on to non-diligent buyers. A packet of cigarettes is of modest value (most buyers just burn them) which does not mean that we can close our eyes to the illicit trade in these goods, especially when mixed up in that trade are armed criminal groups. Recording findspots of artefacts dug up by armed criminal gangs does not seem to me likely to solve the problem that armed criminal gangs represent.

3) The golden artefacts in the foreground of the photo published yesterday and the spread of other artefacts behind them seem to have escaped the blinkered numismo-centric field of view of this "observer" (or should that be "obfuscator"?)."Instituting a PAS for the coins" ignores the clearly-stated fact that this group was handling a much wider range of cultural goods, statues icons, gold jewellery etc.

4) Of course, being American, Peter Tompa has an intrinsic inability to grasp just what the PAS actually is. Those readers who are less confused will know that the PAS is in no way at all connected with Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Greece or anyone else setting up a PAS-clone for coins (or any other antiquities) would not affect the illicit import, export or illicit transfer of ownership of cultural property.

I suspect that next week, Peter Tompa will propose solving the southern European human trafficking problem by giving out free coloured condoms to Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian truck drivers, and the week after that will propose resolving America's drug problem by distributing Cadbury's chocolate bars outside schools in California and Missouri.

A tip, if you ever get invited to Peter Tompa's house and they propose staying for 'pizza', it'd probably be best to politely decline.  When dealing with collectors, you never know what you might get.

Dealers, where - precisely - do those artefacts come from?

It seems to me that certain US dealers have been claiming that their antiquities are kosher because although they ask-no-questions about the missing documentation, they were bought legally in the EU. When pressed for details we learn they are acquired in in auctions in Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Now of course we all know that there are 'no' illicit antiquities on the Swiss market, but...

Greek police on Tuesday arrested 26 people suspected of trafficking in antiquities, a police source in the southwestern port of Patras said following a nationwide raid. Six of the arrested were foreigners, the source said, without revealing their nationalities. The police were looking for 15 other people suspected of involvement in the smuggling ring. Initial investigations suggest the gang sold illegally acquired antiquities in auctions in Britain, Germany and Austria. Police raids unearthed ancient statues hidden in a well near the village of Nemea in the Peloponnese region in the country's south. The gang acquired antiquities including ancient coins, valued them and contacted potential buyers in Greece and abroad.

What is the difference between an antiquity which has come from an old collection and has no papers (because somebody never kept any) and one from Kostas the Thieving Digger (who never kept any paperwork either)? Is it really just down to to a dealer's 'gut feeling' ('You've Got to Get That Feeling: Allegedly, the "Right Way" to Collect "Artefacts with Limited Provenance' PACHI Tuesday, 6 September 2016)?

The syndicated AFP newspaper article is illustrated by a nasty stock photo of fake Cycladic figurines and a battered mini-Venus de Milo, all dirtied up.

UPDATE 5th October 2016
A reader (see comments) gave the link to the article in Greek (thanks, Kyri) and suggested we might like to use google translator. I note the following: 

{...] prevented the export of thousands of ancient Greek coins and other objects abroad [...]  the police found and seized: - 2.024 ancient coins, 126 artifacts like figurines rings - earrings - brooches, a bulbous glass vase, five Byzantine icons, a Byzantine cross, two swords, a [column capital].

Two ancient statues, medieval Frankish era, 1.6 metres tall, depicting a warrior man and one woman, w[ere] discovered hidden in a well in Nemea.

these guys were caught red handed smuggling:

Of the total number of findings, 946 ancient coins and 32 ancient objects identified by police of Subdivision Security Patras, the men support the Port Authority of Patras hidden in a car bumper [...] before crossing the Greek - Bulgarian border, with a final destination in Germany.

They also found a lot of guns and other weapons, and 'twenty one metal detecting machines', but also what looks like a lot of stolen stuff ('seventy-three mobile phones seventeen computers - tablets, ten cameras, binoculars' and other stuff Google translator could not cope with. So basically, it would seem from this report that  the German dealers and/or collectors would be buying undocumented finds from armed thieves and putting this stuff on the market (maybe via their 'collections'). What kind of people would be buying from armed thieves?

The Roots of ISIL Cultural Erasure

Halla Diyab has an interesting piece in Al-Arabiya News: 'ISIS wages cultural warfare on Syria’s heritage', Wednesday, 12 August 2015. She discusses the roots of the destruction of  places of memory and other sites and monuments and the attempt to create a new culture that serves their extreme narrative.

 The culture being constructed by ISIS is an effort to “revive,” or more appropriately, manufacture, a culture to which their fighters can belong despite their distance and alienation from home. Most of these jihadists have difficulty feeling a sense of belonging to or identifying with the European culture of their home countries. ISIS offers them a new territorial space in Syria to construct and participate in a new culture and society, one to which they can easily belong.[...]  ISIS are seeking to establish themselves, not only as the colonizers of Syria, but as the “new Syrians.” ISIS recognises that it must exterminate all symbols of the existing Syrian culture manifested by its heritage (e.g. artefacts, historical sites and monuments), rip out the roots of the country’s cultural memory leaving nothing left, in order for the new, forcibly-planted culture to grow successfully. To justify these acts, the organization claims that it is getting rid of all icons of heritage and religious monuments to leave an unobstructed path to Islam. However, this pretence conceals the real reasons behind ISIS’s policy of destruction. In the first place, this is the removal of any and all any obstructions to their own control and narrative in order to gradually become the living God. By erasing the cultural memory of the Syrian people, demolishing moral codes and severing cultural ties, they can create their own legacy as living icons for the next generation in Syria.

US Ivory Ban Affects BM Exhibit

Heffalump, real men say no to ivory

Six Byzantine ivory reliefs from the British Museum were denied entry to the US by Fish and Wildlife Service (Victoria Stapley-Brown, 'British Museum’s ivory icons denied US entry for loan show' the Art Newspaper 1 July 2015 ). But looted artworks loaned by a museum are not allowed in, and given immunity from seizure by US law. Elephants are cuddlier than cultural heritage.

Anyway, the BM has a programme of making 3D models of things, let them scan their ivory and send a 3D printout, cheaper, safer than sending the originals and the simulacra do not need controlled environments. Americans (as people from the source countries they came from) can see the originals in London. What about the rest of the objects in the show, when and how did those Russian icons surface on the market? How many of them have blood on them?

Illegally circulated antiquities seized in Bulgaria

'Illegally circulated antiquities seized in Bulgaria', 5 February 2015 Sofia Globe has reported that during major international operations carried out to prevent the trafficking of European antiquities, Bulgaria has seized more than 2000 ancient and medieval artefacts

Europol announced on 28 January that 35 individuals had been arrested, and that law enforcement authorities in 14 European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, and the United Kingdom) carried out the operations. Search operations were carried out in 11 Bulgarian cities, where investigators seized 2,289 cultural artefacts, all of which were meant to be protected by the Cultural Heritage Act. Among the seized objects were: Thracian weapons, Thracian horse-riding decorations, antique pottery, bronze and precious metal, ceramics and glass, jewellery, bronze and pottery figurines of people and animals, ancient and medieval seals, antique surgical instruments, pieces of marble, Roman votive sticks, antique metal containers, and Christian crosses and icons.

Bulgaria busts international antiquities trafficking ring

As a further result of Operation Aureus, an international operation supported by Europol to prevent the theft and trafficking of European cultural property, the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (SANS) announced two apparently related recent operations in Bulgaria part of ('Bulgaria busts international antiquities trafficking ring', The Sofia Globe January 30, 2015). These two operations by SANS took place in the period from November 26 2014 to January 26 2015.

It said that the operations were against an international organised crime group involving Bulgarian and foreign citizens that sought out and acquired various archeological objects and other objects of cultural value that were sent abroad illegally. SANS said that search-and-seizure operations had been carried out in 11 cities in Bulgaria at 36 addresses. Investigators seized more than 2000 ancient and medieval objects and coins from various eras and various objects, all meant to be protected by the Cultural Heritage Act. These included rare Thracian weapons, Thracian horse-riding decorations, antique pottery, bronze and precious metal, ceramics and glass, various types of jewellery – bracelets and earrings, rings with precious and semi-precious stones, brooches, bronze appliques, bronze and pottery figurines of people and animals, ancient and medieval seals, sets of antique surgical instruments, pieces of marble, Roman votive sticks, antique metal containers with ornate decorations in gold and silver, Christian crosses and icons.[...] Also seized were numerous metal detectors, including specific geo-radar systems for the precise study of layers of earth, devices for cleaning artifacts, scales, auction house catalogues, specialist literature, invoices related to trade and trafficking in items of cultural value. The agency said that it had found and documented production facilities and facilities for the production of specialist equipment for the needs of the organised crime group. Numerous computers and electronic communication devices used by the group were seized, SANS said. SANS said that it had inspected one of the largest private museums, owned by a business person identified only by his initials in the agency’s media statement. 

 It is interesting to see the state security agency involved in this one, rather than the police.

Antiquity Collection: "Preservation" or Destruction?

A nice article about the work of 'The Walk of Truth' ('Looted artefacts from occupied Cyprus returned', In Cyprus: Fri, 28 Nov 2014): "Following

the Turkish invasion in 1974, the cultural heritage of Cyprus has been plundered, churches have been violated, icons have been stolen, and frescos and mosaics have been violently removed from walls and floors. A large number of these artefacts have been repatriated, while many others are still missing. Prior to 1974, there was an attempt to prepare an archive, however the research was never completed due to the Turkish invasion. The lack of a completed archive for the cultural heritage in the occupied Cyprus makes the identification process, and the process of claiming stolen artefacts, often found in private collections abroad, auctions and art trade, an arduous process".

I am left wondering how on earth it is possible to see what Tasoula Hadjitofi is holding in her hand in an "art" dealer's shop and not realise straight away that it is dodgy. You can see at a glance that it is a sheet of plaster from a wall, that is part of a monument, roughly hacked about. This has not been professionally removed as, for example, a stage in an architectonic investigation of a standing building or removed from a threatened archaeological site (in which case, you'd anyway have to explain how they are on the market). You can see that the hoiker has centred attention on the face (with that amazing sideways glance) and in fact has cut through [let's be clear destroyed] part of the rest of the figure to isolate a bit that is not too big to "portableise" [run off with]. In fact you can see that rather than fit a frame to the 'preserved' fragment, the oik dealer has cut the edges of the latter to fit a frame. How on earth dealers and collectors can claim to be 'preserving the past' ('preserving culture') by destroying context and associations, damaging the material substance and turning it into trophy geegaws utterly beats me.

But to come back to the first point, a normal intelligent and informed person sees that in a shop and realises what it is, sees it has been hacked out of a larger fresco/mural obviously in a standing building. WHY would he buy it to take home to have and hold? The invasion was forty years ago, much of the looting followed soon after. Why has it taken so long for a collector with a conscience to come forward and offer the pieces back? What makes people hang on to obviously looted material like this? Is it just greed? Is it just a total lack of morals? Do they kid themselves that whatever unverifiable cock-and-bull anecdote the dealer told them "might" be true in permanent self-delusion?

 It is the same with dugup artefacts, ripped out of archaeological assemblages and sites, destroying context and associations, damaging the material substance and turning the object into trophy geegaws. The rest of us can see this is the wrong way to be treating a precious, fragile and finite resource, you try discussing it with collectors and instead or entering into frank and open debate, they simply start to get nasty. What kind of people are these? What kind of mentalities do they have? Take a look at the way they behave and decide for yourselves.

40th Anniversary of Turkish Invasion of Cyprus

Turkish troops intervened on Cyprus in 1974, in response to a military coup by Greek Cypriot officers who sought union with Greece. In the ensuing chaos, up to 200,000 Greek Cypriots fled from their homes in the north. Since then, more than 500 churches have been under Turkish control. Some have been destroyed, many ransacked - icons and frescoes have disappeared into scattered private collections. It is one of the most systematic examples of the looting of art since World War II.

The Turks say they would do more to help [protect these monuments] - if they were not under international embargo. Any international aid to Cyprus has to be channelled through the Government in the south, and the Turkish Cypriot authorities refuse to accept its legitimacy. "As you know, because of the politically unrecognised conditions of northern Cyprus we are facing lots of problems", says Hassan Tekel, the director of antiquities in the Famagusta region. "For example, we don't have any international support, not even from Unesco."

For a brief timeline:  Greek Reporter, 'Shocking Photos for 40-Year Anniversary of Turkish Invasion of Cyprus – Timeline of a Crisis', Jul 20, 2014 

Cyprus–Switzerland agreement on repatriation of antiquities enters into force

An agreement signed between Cyprus and Switzerland on the import and repatriation of cultural property between the two countries enters into force and covers Cypriot and Swiss antiquities dating from prehistoric times to 1500 AD comes into effect from Saturday.

An official statement on Friday said the agreement, signed on January 11, provides for the prohibition of the import of cultural property to the two states in cases where the regulations of the country of origin were not satisfied. At the same time, it lays down the framework of cooperation on the repatriation of illegally exported cultural objects and it promotes scientific cooperation and archaeological exchanges between Cyprus and Switzerland. The signing of the agreement, in conjunction with the Memoranda of Understanding concluded by Cyprus with other countries on the imposition of restrictions on the import of Cypriot antiquities to the said countries, constitutes an important step towards the protection of Cyprus’s cultural heritage. 

 Museums in the north have been looted and so have many private collections of antiquities. Churches have been vandalized; ecclesiastical icons and vessels stolen, church frescoes and mosaics have been removed and in many cases have been traced in Europe’s illegal antiquities trade markets and in auctions around the world. 

'Cyprus–Switzerland agreement on repatriation of antiquities enters into force', Cyprus Mail February 14, 2014

Ukraine On Verge Of Civil War?

Obviously everybody here in Poland is looking at what is happening on our eastern border.
'Ukraine On Verge Of 'Civil War,' Ex-President Kravchuk Warns', Agence France Presse 29th Jan, 2014

Ukraine is on the brink of "civil war" as a result of the standoff between authorities and protesters across the country, its first post-independence president Leonid Kravchuk told parliament Wednesday. "All the world acknowledges and Ukraine acknowledges that the state is on the verge of civil war," Kravchuk, Ukraine's president from 1991-1994, told parliament in an emotional address. [...] His successors as president Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) and Viktor Yushchenko (2005-2010) were also present in parliament, in a sign to lawmakers of the importance of the session.

I was talking by Skype to some friends of ours in the rural area in the SW of the country, and the feeling there is that this is indeed the case. All sorts of rumours are flying about. While the rumours are of doubtful authenticity, they are real for the people who hear them and repeat them, and do not bode well. Our friends have a young son conscripted to the army, his term of service ends in April, and we are all hoping that he will not be on the front line of whatever is coming.

Meanwhile whatever is going to happen, it cannot be without effect on the illicit movements of cultural property out of eastern Europe. I really find it hard to understand why Suzie Thomas of the Glasgow project is giving such importance to the Helsinki route ('Baltic connections: an investigation into the trafficking of cultural property through North Eastern Europe'). As far as dugup collectable antiquities go, the stuff from looting of cemeteries in the Ladoga area is more likely to be reaching western markets through the Baltic states (which seems to be suggested by the nature of the objects (also from cemetery looting) it arrives on western markets mixed up with. There seem to be two routes, a northern (Estonian and Latvian material) and a (larger?) southern one bringing material of probable Lithuanian origin onto the market.

The other major route is connected with material from the ("Gothic") cemeteries of Crimea and the Greek colonies on the Pontic coast. Occasionally one sees material of different dates from the steppes and forest steppes. This could be entering the EU through Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria (though only rarely appears in the offerings of those sellers in the global market who seem to have got most of their stuff from those areas). I think more of the latter stuff probably comes through the SE tip of Poland. I also think there is a larger central Ukrainian 'pool' collecting antiquities from both the south of the country as well as from Russia itself (icons mostly) and then passing that through the eastern border crossings of Poland. Certainly some of it is turning up in Warsaw and Poznan (the latter being where some of the routes from the east and southeastern Europe cross). It seems at the supply has been steadily drying up due to over-exploitation. A year ago I saw here on the Warsaw 'grey market' the first (the first I recognized) fake Gothic blechfibeln, nicely done - but fake. The circulation of antiquities in more western regions of Poland already has connections with the German markets. There are a few dealers who have various things going on which suggests to me that they are outliers of the Munich system, and one guy pushing out some very deceptive fakes. Obviously what is coming in through Poland is probably ending up mostly on the German markets, Munich, Leipzig.  So why Helsinki is of such "interest" is beyond me, but anyway, let us see what MS Thomas comes up with. 

If there is prolonged civil unrest in Ukraine, I suspect it will generate many more loose antiquities and cultural property items in general which will - one way or another - get onto illegal internal markets and then the foreign markets. 

"This year may see return of all Dikmen stolen treasures

Cyprus Mail, "This year may see return of all Dikmen stolen treasures"

The process for the return to Cyprus of artefacts linked to the case of antiquities plundered by Turkish art dealer Aydin Dikmen is expected to be completed this year [...] an estimated 20,000 artefacts were smuggled out of Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish invasion

This includes two  17th century icons, of Christ and the Virgin Mary,  from the church of Saint Iacovos in Trikomo which were confiscated in Switzerland from a Russian collector. A lawsuit is underway.

Looted from Zagoria, on Sale in London, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf and Maybe a Shop Near You

Icons for sale (Greek reporter)

Some  icons stolen from Greek monasteries and churches of Epirus were identified recently in a gallery in Düsseldorf that had them for sale and were showing photos of them on their website. The prefect of Epirus, Alexandros Kachrimanis talks about 600 relics taken by looters between 2006 and 2010. This looting had focussed on in the villages of Zagoria. The prefecture has posted the photos of the stolen items on their website which has been effective in identifying items as they surface ("from underground") on the market in dealers' showrooms a number of years after the theft. Since then they have received information about a number of the stolen items on the no-questions-asked art market.

 in 2011, we were informed that galleries in London were selling many religious icons. Specifically, the owner of the gallery in London had 50 to 60 images. The Ministry of Culture, the Greek Embassy in London in collaboration with Scotland Yard did a great job and 18 icons returned to Greece. Then, two more pictures were spotted in galleries in Amsterdam, Holland. There, they sold a total of 19 pictures stolen from the church of Theotokou in Koukouli.” The prefect of Epirus believes that there is a criminal group which is responsible for abduction, transfer and promotion of relics abroad. A voluminous file, formed after years of research by the authorities, on the pillage of monasteries and temples of Epirus, is in the hands of a trial judge.

From the distribution of the finds so far, this criminal group would seem to have had contacts in a specific area of Western Europe. Or rather, dealers in a specific area of Europe have been (are?) buying such items no-questions-asked from criminal groups who are smuggling stolen artefacts.

Sotiria Nikolouli, ' Düsseldorf: Antiquarians Selling Stolen Relics from Greek Monasteries', Greek Reporter November 26, 2013

Cultural Racketeering and Why it Matters: Robbing the World of History

Deborah Lehr(Vice Chairman, Paulson Institute) has written an article worth reading ("Cultural Racketeering and Why it Matters: Robbing the World of History" Huffington Post 10/01/2013).  It starts off fairly conventionally:

The illegal trade in art and antiquities or cultural racketeering is one of the top five most profitable illegal global businesses. It ravages cultural icons and deprives local communities of their heritage. If we don't take a stand, we are not just allowing these criminals to steal our common history, but also the future economic potential of these communities. 

She defines "cultural racketeering" (though bearing in mind an earlier discussion here I wonder in what sense she uses the term "illicit"):

Cultural racketeering is a term that the Capitol Archaeological Institute coined to describe when organized criminal networks traffic in illicit art and antiquities. Looting sites for their riches [...]  has now become a global black market business facilitated by social media and global transportation networks It generates billions of dollars, and has a devastating impact on communities on a local and global scale.[...] organized distribution networks - many linked to organized criminal networks engaged in other types of black activities - act as middlemen to smuggle these artifacts out of the country to where demand exists.

Lehr admits that "credible numbers are tough to gleam for the illicit trade in antiquities. Unlike trafficking in cocaine or weapons, it is difficult to determine the legitimate--or illegitimate--nature of an item once it leaves its country of origin. An ancient statue is either "licit" or "illicit" based on its ownership and not by its nature, like a drug".

She argues that "countries with the most to lose are often hardest hit by cultural racketeers". A lot of it is coming from  developing countries in crisis, "whether economic, political or humanitarian, which leads to a break down in law and order".

Demand is high for these stolen objects. Artifacts from these ancient civilizations are highly prized by collectors and museums, particularly those in developed countries. Billions of dollars are at stake here. 

Note that, demand is high even for STOLEN artefacts. Shockingly, Lehr suggests that "in Egypt alone, based on initial research, we have a conservative estimate of $2 billion dollars in looted antiquities since the January 2011 Revolution. The Syrian Ministry of Antiquities has estimated losses of a similar amount, $2 billion, since the start of their civil war".

I am a bit sceptical about (a) these valuations (I'd love to see the basis for the figures), but also (b) this whole "lost tourist revenue" argument. Yes, shiny gold hoards in British museum showcases are nice for tourists to gawp at. Nobody however is going to say, "let's get on a bus to Royston Vasey to see the museum which has got the Ecclestone jug!" The archaeology is just the icing on the cake, the gawp-worthy artefacts also.

Lehr suggests that there is a lot we can do about the problem of looting and cultural racketeering. First is by raising public awareness about the issue. The Capitol Archaeological Institute is running an initiative to do this. This has a two-pronged approach, at ground level in the source countries encouraging people to think about what they can do to protect heritage in their own communities, and helps "build capacity to protect archaeological sites in countries under attack from cultural racketeering". In addition to the obvious need for security, emphasis is placed on other "simple steps such as creating national inventories of all items excavated". They also hope to influence people of the market countries, to persuade those of a more responsible attitude to stop purchasing artefacts with unclear collecting histories, and to support cultural entrepreneurship, which will help protect the sites in the source countries. She suggests three ways in which everybody can help:

1. Learn more about the global issue of cultural racketeering.
2. Support programs in your own local communities as there are many archaeological sites without adequate protection even in the United States.
3. Give your support to the ongoing efforts of organizations like the CAI and its partners to further the research of these important issues.

I'd like to draw attention to the subtlety of the notion: "we encourage people to think about what they can do to protect heritage in their own communities, to stop purchasing artifacts with unclear [collecting history]. This is about bridging the artificial gap between "theirs and ours". Collectors ("who passionately care about the past") thinking about the problem of looting in their own backyard, and the people that are involved in the looting, surely cannot fail to look at looted items from foreign countries with a new idea. Collecting would lose its pretended/assumed "innocence". This is of course exactly the idea behind this blog.

Medieval "Art" Illicitly Portableised

A great church-crawling fan of rood screen remains, I saw this when it was whole some years back.

Telegraph, ' Priceless medieval panels 'hacked out' of church '

The Independent, 'Thieves steal 'priceless' medieval wooden panels from Devon church',

NewsRT.co.uk, 'Torbryan screen panels stolen from Holy Trinity church',

Guardian.co.uk, 'Fifteenth-century icons stolen from Devon church'

BBC 'Torbryan screen panels stolen from Holy Trinity church'.

Because the missing bits are pictures we tend to consider this as 'just' art, rather than an integral part of something else and it affects us that somebody's ripped it off with a thought to finding a greedy no-questions-asked collector who'll give cash for it. A hole ripped in an archaeological site to get some collectable geegaws for the same purpose perhaps does not have the same gut-feeling as being a loss, but the damage is the same. A part of a whole gone. The screen panels may surface again and the thieves hopefully will get locked up and the screen made whole again, sadly one cannot do that with damaged archaeological sites.

Photo: BBC