[CPProt.net] <exico: Old religious treasures require security

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Old religious treasures require security  
BY SUSAN FERRISS/Cox News Service 
El Universal 
Miércoles 07 de diciembre de 2005 
Miami Herald, página 1 
 
Churches seek perpetual vigilance to prevent the theft of centuries-old
artwork, which is considered public property under Mexican law. Churches
seek perpetual vigilance to prevent the theft of centuries-old artwork,
which is considered public property under Mexican law. 
 
OAXACA — Within the dark sanctuary of Our Lady of Defense chapel, flickering
candles symbolize prayers for “perpetual light.” But perpetual vigilance is
also in demand these days in this and other Catholic shrines where thieves
have stolen hundreds of paintings, statues of saints and their crowns,
candle sticks and other centuries-old objects that, by law, are Mexican
public property. 
Looting of treasures is not new in art-rich Mexico. Federal officials are
worried enough about the crimes, however, that they have begun installing
tighter security at historic churches, including alarms and cameras. Mexican
customs agents were summoned to a special seminar in November to learn more
about the tricky ways thieves smuggle art out of the country. 

‘STEALING FROM GOD’ 

At least two Mexican religious art pieces have been recovered from the
United States in recent years. An 18th century painting stolen from a church
in Hidalgo state was identified and returned by the San Diego Mus eum of
Artin 2004. 

I n September of this year, a 16th century wooden carving of St. Francis of
Assisi weighing more than 600 pounds was delivered back to a chapel in rural
Puebla state after its discovery in a Santa Fe art gallery. 

Worshippers in the nearly 300-year-old Our Lady of Defense chapel in
southern Oaxaca city were shocked last year when three 18th century oil
paintings of saints that had always hung in the church suddenly disappeared.


A tall wooden altar painted gold and bearing a glass-encased Virgin of
Remedios statue now looks a little lop-sided. Two paintings of saints had
flanked the Virgin — until thieves pried the depiction of San Antonio, who
was on the right, loose from the altar and left a gaping hole. 

Now the church is locked when no Mass is planned. If the doors are open to
allow worshippers or tourists to wander in, parishioners like Enriqueta
Silva are there, praying, dusting, arranging flowers — and keeping a sharp
eye out for suspicious characters. 

“In today’s world it seems we do not value church property,” Silva said
indignantly. “These are treasures. They are national, community treasures as
well as church treasures. They stole from the whole country.” 

Eyes blazing, she said, “I don’t even think they know what they’ve taken. It
is just that they’ve heard that this property can be sold. It’s a crime of
opportunity, but it should be punished as the worst sin possible — stealing
from God and the community of the church.” 

FEW OBJECTS RECOVERED 

Mexico’sNational Institute of Anthropology and History estimates that since
1999 more than 900 pieces of pre-Hispanic and religious art have been stolen
and only 190 objects recovered. To help trace missing pieces and prevent
more theft, the institute, with the help of priests and parishioners, is
completing a computerized national registry of objects in most of Mexico’s
60,000 churches. 

With a bank of photos and detailed descriptions of pieces, it can better
issue “911 alerts” to customs services around the world, the Interpol and
private art dealers, said Magdalena Morales Rojas, director of social
education for the institute’s cultural patrimony conservation section. 

The registry doesn’t list value because its purpose is not to appraise items
that, by law, belong to all Mexicans and cannot be sold, Morales said. 

Stealing from churches is part of a wider problem with organized crime and
with a “rise in sacrilegious thinking,” said Jose de Jesús Aguilar, a
Catholic priest who is a specialist on the Sacred Art Commission of the
Archdiocese of Mexico City. 

USING TECHNOLOGY 

But with new technology, coupled with parishioners’ loyalty and willingness
to help guard their churches, Aguilar said, Mexico can begin to fight back.
“Thanks to computers and digital cameras we can do the registry,” he said.
“Imagine, there are 3,000 pieces in the national cathedral in Mexico City
alone and 500 churches just in Mexico Ci t y .” 

Churches and religious objects that date from the Spanish Conquest to the
mid-90s are federal property inMexico, a legacy of a long power struggle
during which the Mexican state sought to strip down the power and wealth of
the Catholic church. 

At the Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, owner John Schaefer said he would
welcome access to the National Institute of Anthropology and History’s
registry and more U.S. government guidance so he could better cross check
the origin of historic art he is offered. 

“We could r e a l l y u s e a blueprint,” he said. Many historic pieces were
produced in Mexico and are owned by individuals and can be lawfully sold, he
noted. Religious art was common in haciendas where the upper class built
private shrines. Schaefer was investigated and cleared by U.S. officials
after a 16th century carved relief known as “Saint Francisco of Assisi
Receiving the Stigmata” was located in the Peyton Wright Gallery in early
2004. 

The gallery owner said the large wooden panel ended up on display and
forsalef or US$225,000 at the gallery, on consignment, after a Mexican
dealer approached him with it. 

“The piece showed up here in a 16-foot cargo truck,” Schaefer said. The
gallery usually asks for a range of documentation, including bills of sale
and importexport records. This time, since the Mexican dealer didn’t have
much documentation, Schaefer asked a Spanish-speaking friend to interview
him at length. 

“His story was the village had voted to sell the piece to use the money to
make repairs on the church,” Schaefer said. The gallery then checked the
piece, at its own cost, Schaefer said, against the Art Loss Register, the
biggest database of stolen art in the world. It wasn’t reported to that
registry as stolen. 

“I used everything at my disposal” to check on the piece, Schaefer said. The
gallery invested about six weeks in restoring the ancient, battered piece,
he said, but when U.S. and Mexican officials told him they suspected it had
been lifted from a church in Puebla in 2001 he was anxious to cooperate and
help return it. “This has a happy ending,” he said. 

The town of Tochimilco in Puebla state threw a fiesta when St. Francis was
returned in September after a thorough restoration at the national
institute. The state governor came and a band played to welcome home a piece
of Mexican culture nobody imagined anyone would ever think of stealing. 

“Back then was when there was no distrust,” said the town’s mayor, Rufino
Elias Menenes. The town now appreciates even more, he said, that the piece
is “of incalculable value — spir 

New law to boost Bolsa EXCHANGE RATES The initiative, if approved by the
upper house, would help smaller companies register on the nation’s stock
exchange. 

Dow Jones Newswire The lower house of Congress voted unanimously Tuesday for
a new stock market law aimed at improving corporate governance and at
boosting the number of companies that trade on the local market. 

The measure must be sent back to the Senate because it was modified after
initial approval in the upper house. 

Under the changes, regulators would be held responsible if they exaggerate
the seriousness of an alleged securities violation and regulators would have
to publish a notice exonerating a company if it was fined but had its
penalty overturned by a court. 

The bill expands the definition of data that listed companies must report to
the stock market to include anything that could affect their share price.
The new law should make it easier for medium-size companies to list on the
local stock market since it allows them to tap into money from institutional
investors in exchange for adopting higher corporate governance standards
that offer greater protection to minority holders. 
 
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/