[MSN] French authorities plan to boost security in museums and churches across the country after a spate of art thefts, the culture ministry said.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

France plans tighter security over art thefts
. Sunday, Sep 23, 2007
French authorities plan to boost security in museums and churches across the
country after a spate of art thefts, the culture ministry said.

The ministry cited a series of recent raids which underlined the "greed that
art works arouse in bold and determined individuals."

Local authorities, the French museum service and the national architecture
and heritage service would meet Culture minister Christine Albanel next
month to coordinate tighter security measures, the ministry said.

Albanel had asked the Justice ministry to look at adapting existing laws to
focus more closely on theft and vandalism in museums and heritage sites, it
added.

Recent incidents included an armed robbery in which four paintings were
stolen from a Nice museum and the theft of part of a Renaissance panel from
the Saint Pierre Cathedral in Rennessinance.

The theft of 91 religious artefact, most made of silver, from Saint Etienne
Cathedral in Toulouse.

On Tuesday night, thieves broke into Saint Jean Baptiste Cathedral in the
southwestern town of Perpignan and stole almost all of its gold and silver
liturgical artefact.

Soaring prices for major art works have prompted a series of major robberies
in recent years, including the theft earlier this year of two Picasso
pictures from the Paris apartment of one of the Spanish painter's
granddaughters.

With a rich cultural heritage, more than 1,200 museums across the country as
well as hundreds of churches, many containing valuable works of art, France
is particularly at risk from art theft.

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