02-22-2012, 05:42 PM
Security comes only in relation to existing danger.
Many of the contributors to this forum have visited Greece and have noticed that in many museums of Greece, even many of the major ones, the existing security is at relatively low levels. In smaller ones, non-existing. Economic reasons? Indifference reasons? Not really. This has beem due for many reasons among which the primary one was the simply fact that the threat was relatively low. None would think stealing a museum since this would not be really profitable.
Normal criminals do not decide out of their own to steal a museum. Normal criminals will go wreck an electricity/telephone line and sell the copper - so easy, so profitable.
To steal a museum you need to have a collector buyer already making his order so as to know what to steal and what price to expect.
- Collectors of paintings indeed do need to steal museums since the paintings they are after are unique pieces stored there.
- However collectors of ancient items do not need to proceed to that. While success is more probable than failure, it is still dangerous to break into museums in the sense that people can get hurt (or even killed), and in case of being caught it may result in tears.
Then archaeological fetichs are mostly the big items, statues etc. - difficult to grab and carry in minutes - you need to send a whole army in there to take it like the French did to steal the Venus Aphrodite.
Collectors are after smaller objects mostly cos they are easier to handle and hide. And in this robbery they stole small items. But then why steal a museum? For 1 specific item?
Collectors traditionally got their stuff via illegal excavations. Genuine, uknown and not infrequently of larger importance and value to what we see in museums. They only have to pay 1-2 people and go dig. Below Greece's surface lie 1000s of years of intense human activity. It is easier than you think. I can tell you stories about Hollywood stars buying villas on Greek islands facing uninhabited rocky islands opposite with known sites - from which sites there have been seen yaghts arriving, loading, and leaving in the night... What can you do? Employ 10 million Greeks to guard day and night? Scan with satellites every rock, every mountain? Still the interest is so much that people will always want to take something and they will be digging and taking.
On the other side, why didn't collectors hit Greek museums in the past? None can say in the past there was better guarding.
Well the idea is not that.
The idea is what I had written in another forum (on geopolitics) 4 months ago that Greece will receive pressures regarding its own decision on its debt and what is proposed by its creditors and that in that process it will be hit with particular propagandistic - just like back in 2007 when, following 2006 signatures on profitable for Greece (but not others) gas deals, Greece was burned in flames with forest fires, helicopters carrying officials falling down, and kids were being murdered in streets by bullets falling from 180 angles only to provoke the "silly-youth" (anyway unemployed and discontent) to riot in the streets.
What I had proposed 4 months ago was that we would have hits on Greek museums as part of that propaganda-attacks that wish to bring the position of the country as low as possible. When you hit others you hit the economy, when you hit Greece you have to hit also the culture. Unfortunately my prediction proved correct.
You understand that this discussion leads us to other fields that have little to do with archaeology itself. In such issues, try to remain sober and think logically. Nothing is as simplistic as initially proposed.
Nikos
Many of the contributors to this forum have visited Greece and have noticed that in many museums of Greece, even many of the major ones, the existing security is at relatively low levels. In smaller ones, non-existing. Economic reasons? Indifference reasons? Not really. This has beem due for many reasons among which the primary one was the simply fact that the threat was relatively low. None would think stealing a museum since this would not be really profitable.
Normal criminals do not decide out of their own to steal a museum. Normal criminals will go wreck an electricity/telephone line and sell the copper - so easy, so profitable.
To steal a museum you need to have a collector buyer already making his order so as to know what to steal and what price to expect.
- Collectors of paintings indeed do need to steal museums since the paintings they are after are unique pieces stored there.
- However collectors of ancient items do not need to proceed to that. While success is more probable than failure, it is still dangerous to break into museums in the sense that people can get hurt (or even killed), and in case of being caught it may result in tears.
Then archaeological fetichs are mostly the big items, statues etc. - difficult to grab and carry in minutes - you need to send a whole army in there to take it like the French did to steal the Venus Aphrodite.
Collectors are after smaller objects mostly cos they are easier to handle and hide. And in this robbery they stole small items. But then why steal a museum? For 1 specific item?
Collectors traditionally got their stuff via illegal excavations. Genuine, uknown and not infrequently of larger importance and value to what we see in museums. They only have to pay 1-2 people and go dig. Below Greece's surface lie 1000s of years of intense human activity. It is easier than you think. I can tell you stories about Hollywood stars buying villas on Greek islands facing uninhabited rocky islands opposite with known sites - from which sites there have been seen yaghts arriving, loading, and leaving in the night... What can you do? Employ 10 million Greeks to guard day and night? Scan with satellites every rock, every mountain? Still the interest is so much that people will always want to take something and they will be digging and taking.
On the other side, why didn't collectors hit Greek museums in the past? None can say in the past there was better guarding.
Well the idea is not that.
The idea is what I had written in another forum (on geopolitics) 4 months ago that Greece will receive pressures regarding its own decision on its debt and what is proposed by its creditors and that in that process it will be hit with particular propagandistic - just like back in 2007 when, following 2006 signatures on profitable for Greece (but not others) gas deals, Greece was burned in flames with forest fires, helicopters carrying officials falling down, and kids were being murdered in streets by bullets falling from 180 angles only to provoke the "silly-youth" (anyway unemployed and discontent) to riot in the streets.
What I had proposed 4 months ago was that we would have hits on Greek museums as part of that propaganda-attacks that wish to bring the position of the country as low as possible. When you hit others you hit the economy, when you hit Greece you have to hit also the culture. Unfortunately my prediction proved correct.
You understand that this discussion leads us to other fields that have little to do with archaeology itself. In such issues, try to remain sober and think logically. Nothing is as simplistic as initially proposed.
Nikos
