IN AUGUST 2004 “THE SCREAM” BY EDVARD MUNCH WAS TAKEN BY ARMED GUNMEN IN A DRAMATIC SUNDAY AFTERNOON RAID ON THE MUNCH MUSEUM IN NORWAY.

Around the world Museums work hard to get the right balance between protecting their collections and not spoiling the viewing experience for their audience.


In August 2004 “The Scream” by Edvard Munch was taken by armed gunmen in a dramatic Sunday afternoon raid on The Munch Museum in Norway. The works were not recovered for 2 years.

Thieves stole Picasso’s painting ’’Weeping Woman’’ from the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia in August 1986 – according to police it was taken on Saturday night but was not noticed missing until Monday morning because the thieves left a card in its place saying that the painting had been removed for conservation. It was recovered undamaged in a locker at a railway station 2 weeks later.

In 2001, thieves raided Sweden’s national museum and cut down a self portrait by Rembrandt and two paintings by Renoir. Those paintings were hanging from steel wires, like the paintings in the Munch museum.

The theft of the “Saliera” by Benvenuto Cellini in 2003 from the Kunsthistorisches Museum initiated a lively debate about procedures in Austria, which are relevant internationally. Did the thief have plans of the building? Were there any Museum employees involved? Most importantly, how can such incidents be prevented in the future?

In June 2007, a valuable 17th century painting “A Cavalier (self portrait” by Frans van Mieris was stolen from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia. This theft also occurred on a Sunday.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ART
All these incidents have left police scrambling for clues and stirred debate across the world over how to protect art if thieves are willing to be so brazen and in some instances willing to use deadly force to take it.
In most instances Museum officials said there were no immediate plans to change security measures.

TIGHTLIPPED ABOUT SECURITY
”We can’t see that any mistakes were made. We also can’t see that the evaluation we had ahead of this has been wrong,” said Lise Mjoes, director of the Oslo Municipal art collections. ”If we only thought about security, then we would have to place the pictures in a vault, but then they aren’t accessible.”

”We cannot lock up our pieces of art because we want to show them to a large audience,” said Sune Nordgren, director of the National Museum of Art in Oslo.

According to Jan Birkehorn, head of security at the National Museum in Sweden, it is almost impossible to make paintings theft-proof without ruining the experience for visitors. ”Should you put them inside security monitors with thick glass? I think the experience of looking at them would be lost,” he said.

In general, museums are very tightlipped about security, saying secrecy is one of their greatest defenses.

Spain’s main museums have armed guards and metal detectors. ”We had a series of measures that are visible to the public but others that are secret,” said spokesman Jose Maria Ambrona for Spain’s Prado museum.

France’s Musee d’Orsay has extensive and largely secret security systems, in addition to guards and metal detectors.