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Europe's cultural heritage: The creeping expropriation through art theft

Europe's cultural heritage: The creeping expropriation through art theft

The first part of this article addressed the dramatic increase in organized art theft in Europe. Clans and international gangs are estimated to have stolen over 50,000 works of art worth billions since 1990. Lack of security, low crime detection rates, and political silence are fueling this trend.

In the face of the plundering of European cultural assets, it's not just politicians who are failing. The art world itself also bears some responsibility. The art market, which reached a volume of €65 billion in 2023, largely operates in a legal gray area. Provenance—the complete history of a work of art's origin—all too often plays no role as long as the price is right.

EU Regulation 2019/880, which provides for an electronic import licensing system for cultural goods starting in June 2025, is a step forward. However, experts such as Professor Noah Charney of the Institute for Art and Law criticize the regulation as inadequate.

The regulation only applies to imports from outside the EU, not to trade within the single market. It's something like a Bolkestein Directive for fences. Moreover, the penalties for violations are ridiculously low compared to the profit margins in the illegal art trade.

Technology against art theft: revolution failed

While banks are investing millions in AI-supported security systems and almost every supermarket now has high-resolution surveillance cameras and electronic article surveillance, many museums are still living in the 20th century in terms of security – if at all. Improving security in museums remains one of the most urgent tasks.

In December 2023, the British Museum Review ruthlessly exposed the deficiencies following a scandal involving over 2,000 objects stolen internally. The museum didn't even have a complete digital inventory of its eight million objects.

Security cameras covered only 43 percent of the exhibition spaces. There were no regular inventory checks. The thief, a long-time curator, was able to simply take objects and sell them on eBay for years.

Efficient technology exists

Technologies that could turn museums into high-security zones have long existed: AI-supported behavioral analysis that detects suspicious movement patterns. Such a system is currently being tested at the East German Railway in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.

Or blockchain-based provenance verification that makes counterfeiting and receiving stolen goods impossible. Or nano-trackers in works of art that enable tracking even years after a theft.

But implementation is stalled due to money. While the Louvre has an annual budget of at least 250 million euros, likely more, as comprehensive reforms are currently underway in Paris, only three percent of this apparently goes toward security – with a collection valued at an estimated 35 billion euros.

Europe's cultural bloodletting: consequences of art theft

What does this systematic cultural theft mean for Europe? It's more than the loss of objects. It's an attack on European identity itself.

When jewels from the Green Vault, symbols of Saxon craftsmanship and baroque splendor, disappear into private safes or are crushed in vices, not only does Dresden lose a part of its history. Europe, piece by piece, loses the material evidence of its civilization.

Loss of history

A people without access to their art is a people without a soul. And indeed, when this access is cut off by criminal networks, when works of art migrate from public space to private bunkers, a creeping cultural dispossession takes place.

The numbers are alarming. The largest publicly accessible database for stolen art is the Interpol database, which already contained approximately 57,000 registered objects in 2023.

The private Art Loss Register database contains over 700,000 entries worldwide, but is not limited to Europe and includes not only works of art but also antiques and collectibles.

The number of unreported cases is likely higher, as many thefts from private collections or churches go unreported. In Italy, thousands of works of art disappear from churches every year—often sacred art that has been part of the local identity for centuries.

Solutions to art theft: What needs to be done

The solutions are obvious, but their implementation fails due to a mixture of lack of funds, bureaucratic inertia and political despondency.

Security in museums needs to be improved. Museums need a massive upgrade of their security systems. Experts estimate the investment to be around two billion euros.

Museums above a certain value should be required to invest a defined margin, such as five percent of their budget, in security. This is not a militarization of culture, but a simple necessity. In the case of the Louvre, however, security costs are a flexible item and therefore always at risk of cuts.

Specialists in the police: Italy is leading the way

Law enforcement must also be internationalized and specialized. Italy is leading the way: According to specialized portals, the Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale, founded in 1969, comprises at least 300 specialists dedicated exclusively to combating art crime. Since its inception, they have seized over a million works of art. Germany, by contrast, has only a few full-time positions at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) dedicated to this area; France has a few more, but still far from enough.

In addition, perpetrator structures must be clearly identified and consistently dismantled. If it can be proven that clan structures or organized gangs from certain regions are disproportionately involved in art theft, then naming them is not discrimination, but a statement of fact.

After years of turning a blind eye, the Berlin police have begun to take targeted action against criminal clan structures. The raids, asset seizures, and structural investigations are having an impact. This model must be replicated throughout Europe.

Combat illegal art trafficking more effectively

Furthermore, the art market needs radical transparency. Galleries and auction houses that trade stolen art should not only be held civilly liable but also prosecuted criminally. Switzerland, whose "free ports" are considered a hub for the illegal art trade, must finally be forced to open its duty-free warehouses to international investigators. International cooperation and consistent provenance research on stolen art are essential to advancing the fight against the illegal art trade.

There are more specific examples of loss of control and alleged receiving stolen goods: A few years ago, government documents from the year of the Cuban revolution were auctioned at a traditional auction house in Berlin, even though these documents bearing Fidel Castro's signature should not have appeared there under Cuban law.

Finally, diplomatic relations with states that serve as markets for looted art must be leveraged. If Russian oligarchs or Gulf State princes hoard European looted art, there should be consequences – from visa restrictions to economic sanctions.

The hour of decision

Europe is at a turning point. Either it finally takes the protection of its cultural heritage seriously, or it accepts that its museums will become self-service stores for international crime syndicates. The Louvre break-in in October 2025 should be the final wake-up call.

The alternative is grim: a future in which museums become high-security wards where visitors can only view works of art behind bulletproof glass and under the watchful eye of armed security guards. Or—worse still—a future in which the most significant works of European art disappear into the private bunkers of oligarchs and war profiteers, lost to the public forever.

The French Resistance had a slogan during the German occupation: "They will not pass"—they will not get through. Today, Europe needs a similar spirit of determination in the fight against the cultural robbers.

Berliner-zeitung

Berliner-zeitung

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