[MSN] "The Medici Conspiracy" by Peter Watson now a SAFE online lecture

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

SAFE announces the release of its first video lecture, featuring  
author and journalist Peter Watson discussing his award-winning book  
The Medici Conspiracy (Public Affairs, 2006), which Mr. Watson co- 
authored with Cecilia Todeschini.

The lecture — available online at  www.savingantiquities.org/ 
podcasts.php — was hosted by SAFE at the Chelsea Art Museum in New  
York on November 16, 2006. After the lecture, Mr. Watson and his co- 
author Ms. Todeschini received the SAFE Beacon Award, which honors  
outstanding individuals who enlighten the public about the  
destruction of cultural heritage caused by the looting of ancient  
sites and the trade in illicit antiquities.

During the one-hour lecture, Mr. Watson describes how investigations  
into the smuggling of antiquities from Italy led to the trial and  
2004 conviction of antiquities dealer Giacomo Medici, as well as the  
trial of former Getty Museum curator Marion True and antiquities  
dealer Robert Hecht, while is now nearing conclusion in Rome. In a  
wide-ranging discussion, Mr. Watson traces the story from the late  
1980s to the present (including details never before heard outside  
the courtroom in Rome) and concludes with a spirited round of  
questions from the audience, during which Mr. Watson predicted  
additional prosecutions in Italy and Greece and additional calls for  
museums to return looted antiquities.

The Peter Watson Medici Conspiracy video lecture joins a growing list  
of podcasts on the SAFE website, which feature Dr. Donny George  
Youkhanna (former director of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad), Roger  
Atwood (author of Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers and the  
Looting of the Ancient World (St. Martins Press, 2004) and  Professor  
Patty Gerstenblith (president of the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural  
Heritage Preservation).

SAFE/Saving Antiquities for Everyone, a non-profit 501(c)(3)  
organization, creates educational programs and media campaigns to  
raise public awareness regarding the importance of preserving  
cultural heritage worldwide. SAFE is a coalition of professionals in  
communications, media, and advertising working alongside experts in  
the academic, legal and law enforcement communities. SAFE has no  
political affiliations.