The National columnist urges not to romanticize art theft
In France, the robbery at the Renoir Museum in the south of the country, from which four paintings were stolen this week, has once again raised the question of attitudes toward crimes against cultural heritage. The thieves dropped two works while fleeing. Nick March, a columnist for The National, believes that the theft of artworks should be regarded as a form of cultural destruction rather than as spectacular criminal adventures.
The loss of cultural heritage
In his column, March compares the theft of art treasures with the deliberate destruction of monuments. He recalls the Taliban's demolition of Buddha statues in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province in 2001, the destruction by Islamic State militants of Mesopotamian artifacts at the Mosul Museum, and the destruction of part of Palmyra in Syria. These actions, the author writes, sparked outrage around the world because of the loss of history and cultural identity.
At the same time, reports about museum thefts often focus on the value of the stolen items or describe the crimes as brazen or resembling a Hollywood plot, March notes. In his view, such rhetoric relegates to the background the possibility that the stolen works may be lost forever, as well as the violent nature of some robberies.
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The Louvre example and Europol data
As an example, the author cites the theft of valuable items from the Louvre in Paris last autumn. According to the description in the column, the perpetrators smashed windows and used a hydraulic lift to enter the building. They dropped one of the items while fleeing; it was damaged and is undergoing restoration. Most of the stolen property, according to the column, has still not been recovered.
March also refers to a recent Europol report on an increase in violent robberies committed by art thieves. According to him, threats were made and confrontations with staff and visitors occurred during the Louvre robbery. The author calls for such crimes not to be given a romantic gloss.
He also mentioned plans to open a tourist attraction and a licensed alcohol venue in London in the building of the Hatton Garden vault, which was the site of a 2015 robbery. In March's view, screen adaptations and other popular interpretations of the case have often focused on the criminals, even though the victims lost their savings.
