[MSN] Italian culture minister says fight against art trafficking has raised value

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Italian culture minister says fight against art trafficking has raised value


2007-08-02 15:08:40 - 


ROME (AP) - Efforts to tackle art trafficking «make looting more attractive»
as a tighter black market has raised the value of the booty, Italy's culture
minister said Wednesday, a day after reaching a historic agreement with the
J. Paul Getty Museum to recover some lost treasures.
Deals like the one announced with the Getty to return 40 artifact to Italy
by the end of the year make it «impossible for serious institutions to
purchase illegally,» Francesco Rutelli said, but it also has the unintended
consequence of raising the value of contraband art as it becomes more
precious.
«Such a decisive fight against art trafficking makes looting more
attractive, in the sense that (the items) have a higher value because there
are fewer,» Rutelli told a news conference. «An object that a few years ago
could be bought for US$400,000 (¤290,250), today is worth US$4 million (¤2.9
million).
Italian authorities have launched a worldwide campaign to recover looted
treasures and had been at odds with the Getty over dozens of antiquities
they say were illegally dug up and smuggled out of the country despite laws
that make all antiquities found in Italy state property.
Following more than a year of often-stalled negotiations, Italy and the
Getty _ which has denied knowingly buying illegally obtained objects _ also
agreed on widespread cultural cooperation, which will include loans of other
treasures to the Los Angeles museum.
«The agreement is part of a strategy that we follow with great determination
because we want the universal cultural heritage to be protected and we also
want to eliminate the water where traffickers swim and sail,» Rutelli said.
Former Getty curator Marion True and art dealer Robert Hecht are on trial in
Rome with the charge of knowingly receiving dozens of archaeological
treasures that had been stolen from private collections or dug up illicitly.
Both deny wrongdoing.
Ministry officials said the agreement with the museum would only affect a
civil lawsuit seeking damages which was attached to the criminal proceedings
at the start of the trial _ but that the trial itself would continue.
Italian authorities have signed separate deals in the past with New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for the return
of a total of 34 artifacts _ including Hellenistic silverware, Etruscan
vases and Roman statues _ in exchange for loans of other treasures. 

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