Thieves Getting Churches’ Art Treasures

Thefts from Italy’s churches, most of them unguarded and filled with art treasures, have reached what police call epidemic proportions.

“It’s an extremely grave situation and we are not quite sure how to deal with this sacrilegious phenomenon, short of turning churches into bank vaults,” says Col. Gerardo De Donno, who directs a special police branch investigating art thefts.

Police figures show there have been 5,331 thefts in Italian churches over the past 14 years, more than one a day. The thieves stole at least 53,762 items of art and religious works worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The stolen objects range from a priceless painting by Caravaggio, precious old documents and gold and silver trays and candlesticks to bulky marble sculptures and wooden furniture.

Thieves apparently well versed in art broke into the Basilica of San Barnaba in Marino, south of Rome, in mid-November and stole an 18th-Century painting of the Virgin, a bronze statue of Christ and a fine silver reliquary. A few days later in central Rome, four burglars were foiled in their attempt to remove four large 17th-Century paintings from the church of San Luigi dei Francesi.

De Donno said only one out of 10 churches has a burglar alarm “most of them not very sophiscated.” The rest are virtually unguarded, often without a custodian or a night watchman, he said.

Churches in most cases cannot afford to install expensive security systems or hire full-time guards.

Experts say church thefts have increased in recent years because antique religious art works have become popular and increased in market value.

“Until some time ago, a kind of religious culture prevailed--and that meant you don’t steal from the church,” says Andrea Emiliani, a museum superintendent in Bologna. “But things have changed and it now appears that the concept has changed to ‘If I don’t steal, somebody else will.’ ”

Many of the stolen works are smuggled abroad, past careless or dishonest customs officials, and into the hands of unscrupulous or unsuspecting dealers, mostly in the United States and Western Europe, De Donno says.

Customs officials say the smuggled art works, in many cases, are first sent to neighboring European countries, often Switzerland, which have not signed the 1970 treaty designed to curb art smuggling.

A pact drafted by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization calls for “exporting” countries such as Italy to crack down on smuggling and issue export certificates for art objects. It also asks “importing” countries to make sure that the art pieces they buy have been legally exported.

Another article calls for joint action to stem imports of art works from clandestine archaeological excavations.

The United States, Canada and Italy have signed and ratified the treaty and passed national legislation to back it up. France and Australia also ratified it and have legislation in the works.

Police figures show that since 1970, a total of 189,780 art objects were reported stolen in Italy--96,651 from private homes and collections, 53,762 from churches and 39,367 from museums and galleries.

The stolen items include 51,295 paintings, 15,301 sculptures, 13,064 archeological pieces, more than 38,000 ancient coins, over 24,000 objects used in church services and nearly 9,000 old books and documents.

Of these, according to De Donno, Italian police have recovered nearly 100,000 items and arrested about 2,000 people.