Stolen history

As recently as 2006, many fine art galleries put marbles behind picture frames as a safety mechanism. If a thief tried to lift a valuable painting off the wall, the marbles would spill onto the floor and alert bystanders to the robbery.

Shortly after learning this, artist Scott Richter and Bill Anderson, formerly president of The Atlantic Monthly, began patenting an alarm that would sound when a painting is moved. That was the beginning of Art Guard, a company that provides sensor technology now used by galleries like Sotheby’s and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

According to Anderson, security at museums and art galleries has come a long way since marbles, with mechanisms like motion-triggered alarms and even AI-powered surveillance that can anticipate the warning signs of theft. The majority of museums “do take [security] seriously, but not seriously enough,” Anderson said.

That was made painfully obvious in October after criminals working in broad daylight stole more than $100 million in crown jewels from the Louvre Museum. One in a string of heists that has continued into this year, the robbery highlighted how many museums rely on outdated surveillance systems. It also showed how criminals are getting bolder, many of them taking items that are easy to break down rather than instantly recognizable artwork. While the iconic theft generated plenty of buzz in the fine arts community, few museums are making drastic changes to tighten their own security.

Last year, thieves targeted several museums. On the morning of Sept. 25, burglars broke into England’s Bristol Archives and made off with about 600 artifacts from the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection. The purloined items included an American emancipation token dating back to 1838, carved figurines, jewelry, and pins from the East India Company.

Also in September, the U.K.’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery reported the theft of artifacts that included 17 antique pocket watches. The same month, thieves broke into the geology and mineral gallery of France’s National Museum of Natural History and stole more than $700,000 worth of historic gold samples. In another robbery at Adrien Dubouché National Museum in Limoges, thieves stole porcelain artifacts valued at over $11 million.

On Oct. 15, thieves broke into an off-site storage facility at the Oakland Museum of California and took over 1,000 items, “the majority consisting of historic memorabilia,” according to a museum press release. And in late January, thieves stole an entire collection of silver from a Dutch museum.

But the Louvre heist made the most headlines because of the iconic target, not because the robbery was particularly sophisticated, according to Tim Carpenter, former head of the FBI’s Art Crime Team and founder of Argus Cultural Property Consultants. “It was kind of a brute force attack,” Carpenter said. “This wasn’t Mission Impossible.”

Shortly after the museum opened on Oct. 19, criminals broke into the building using a truck-mounted basket lift to enter a second story balcony of the Apollo Gallery. A 2018 audit of the museum flagged that very balcony as a security vulnerability.

Once inside, the thieves smashed display cases, grabbed eight pieces of jewelry, and made their getaway on motorcycles. The whole operation lasted about eight minutes. Police apprehended several suspected culprits, but they have yet to recover the stolen jewels.

The theft showed that the Louvre was woefully underprepared. Alarms did sound when the thieves entered the window and broke the cases. But guards arrived too late because the Louvre’s control room didn’t have enough monitors, meaning the guards couldn’t watch a live feed of the robbery. On Feb. 24, the Louvre’s director resigned in part due to criticism over the high-profile heist.

Carpenter noted it’s fairly typical for famous museums like the Louvre to have mediocre security systems: “I’ve seen museums that have half a billion dollars in paintings hanging in a gallery without a single camera and exit doors that lead out to the parking lot.” He declined to name names.

According to Carpenter, European museums often have antiquated surveillance because the buildings themselves are usually quite old. “That means the building is a piece of art. It too, has to be treated as part of the collection,” Carpenter said. Integrating new security technologies could alter or even damage the historical property.

But even for American collections, typically housed in newer museum buildings, budgets get in the way of security updates. In fact, museums often consider security as contrary to the goal of displaying artifacts to the public.

Museum leaders described their dilemma in an open letter published in French newspaper Le Monde shortly after the Louvre heist. The letter was signed by 57 museum leaders including Max Hollein, CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Museums are not strongholds nor are they secret vaults,” the letter said. “Their essence, while creating the safest environment for art and its audiences, lies in their openness and accessibility.”

Carpenter appreciates that emphasis as a patron himself. “I want to be able to go in and have personal experience with the artwork, but I also want them to protect it,” he said. “That needs to be an equal part of every museum’s mission.”

Increasingly, items being taken are “things that can be monetized quickly,” Bill Anderson said. “So gold and jewels become the primary target.” Unless authorities recover it, future generations will never have a chance to see the emerald necklace worn by the wife of Napoleon III, one of the items stolen from the Louvre.

In the wake of multiplying attacks, some museums have tried to beef up their security. In late December, officials installed metal bars across the balcony windows the criminals used to break into the Louvre. Museum leaders said they will allocate more than $90 million to hardening security.

Following the Louvre heist, Bill Anderson said he received about 15 calls from museum officials asking about Art Guard services. But Timothy Carpenter said most museums have what he calls a kind of victim mentality: “Like, that can’t happen here, until it does happen.”

That’s why Carpenter believes even the Louvre heist won’t be enough incentive for most museums to get serious about the risk of theft: “We do expect to see this kind of crime on the increase.”