Virtual Museum of stolen masterpieces

[Пар-И]

Interpol has opened a "museum" of stolen masterpieces
Yuri Kovalenko (Paris)
Interpol made a property of the world's unique database, which has been dubbed "the best museum in the world." This is 34 thousand works of art, divided into 26 sections: paintings, sculpture, furniture, porcelain, tapestries, musical instruments and even stamps. They were kidnapped in 187 countries - members of Interpol and are wanted.

Today, all the stolen masterpieces can be seen on the website of Interpol, they lined their photographs and descriptions. To access the database have to go easy registration and receive the appropriate password.

Some of the works relate to 1000 BC. Among the masterpieces - works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Manet, Cezanne, Malevich. The sorter Interpol appear on 186 paintings which were stolen in Russia - from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Volgograd, Kostroma and Tarusa. In domestic cloth made lists of the great Russian painters - Levitan, Shishkin, Aivazovsky (21 picture), Malevich, Roerich and Western masters - from Giovanni Bellini to Lucas Cranach. According to some sources, in Russia at large are about 55 thousand pieces, of which only about 700 went to the Interpol database. Some of them have surfaced on the underground markets of Europe and the United States.

Virtual Museum - an important tool to combat the trafficking of cultural monuments, - stress in the Lyon headquarters of Interpol. - Gallery owners, antique dealers and collectors from different countries can no longer claim they did not know that buying stolen canvas or sculpture. Moreover - we sent out to ministries of culture, museums, insurance companies, a DVD with all the information that is in our possession. Criminal sale now become much more complicated. Finally, thanks to Interpol's stolen some of the pictures were taken directly from the auction.

However, some experts believe that this information successfully exploited by criminals. If the stolen product to appear in an Interpol catalog, they are particularly vigilant in its marketing. To date, the annual income from the sale of stolen works is estimated at 5 billion dollars. More brings only the illicit trade in arms and drugs

http://www.interpol.int/Public/WorkO...centThefts.asp

[Евгений]

A steam-and, Thank you for an interesting message, but how many times before did not go to this site had problems .. let's see what they have now done.