May 2003

One Hundred Missing Objects. Looting in Europe

More objects returned

A wooden angel stolen from the church of Saint-Pierre d'Humbert (France) in
1977 was found in Holland by French police officers in March of this year.
The 13th-century carving was listed as a historical monument under French
law and was one of the objects described in the ICOM publication One Hundred
Missing Objects. Looting in Europe (p.47).

In addition, a 16th-century statuette of the Wise Man Balthazar, which was
stolen from the altarpiece of a French church in 1967 and had been in the
keeping of a Belgian state museum for several years, was officially returned
by the Belgian government on 1 July 2002, in line with the ICOM Code of
Ethics for Museums. The case of this statuette was mentioned in one of the
introductions to Looting in Europe (p.19).

Europe is by no means exempt from heritage theft and looting, and religious
objects in particular are especially targeted by art thieves in many
European countries.

The publication of One Hundred Missing Objects. Looting in Europe by ICOM in
January 2001 has led to the return of several French, Italian and Czech
objects.

For further information, see http://icom.museum/list_thanks_europe.html



Valérie Jullien
Communications and Publications Officer
ICOM Secretariat
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