[MSN] Bare walls, soft security where art hung

[MSN]

Bare walls, soft security where art hung
By ANNEMARIE STRAUMANN and BRADLEY S. KLAPPER - Associated Press Writers --

ZURICH, Switzerland --
Only scratches remain on the white walls where the four Impressionist
masterpieces once hung. No metal detectors, no armed guards, no cameras were in
sight Tuesday, underscoring just how vulnerable many of Europe's small museums
are to thieves enticed by soaring art prices.

The robbers who carried out one of Europe's most dramatic art heists are likely
criminals with no art expertise or understanding of how difficult it is to sell
such famous paintings, experts said Tuesday. The stolen works by Cezanne, Degas,
van Gogh and Monet are worth $163.2 million.

Karl-Heinz Kind, an art theft expert at Interpol, said part of the problem is
the appeal of museums like the E.G. Buehrle Collection, with its accessibility
and atmosphere encouraging reflection and appreciation.

"A museum or a church is not made to be a prison," Kind said in a telephone
interview from Lyon, France, where Interpol has its headquarters.

"You can imagine screening luggage or clothes under machines, or X-raying them.
You could imagine in churches or cathedrals to put the statues of saints behind
iron bars. That would certainly increase security. But is it really the purpose
of a museum?"

Marco Cortesi of the Zurich police noted the robbery Sunday took less than three
minutes, carried out by gunmen in ski masks who burst into the museum just
before closing time. While one trained a pistol on museum personnel ordered to
lie on the floor, two others collected the paintings and sped off with them.

"In Europe we just didn't have to plan for such an attack on a museum," Cortesi
said.

The Buehrle's security included burglar alarms to protect against break-ins
during the night and an alarm system that sounded at the police station if a
picture was moved. But that was clearly not enough.

"The museum has state-of-the-art security against theft, but not against armed
robbery," said museum director Lukas Gloor as he showed reporters the
collection, one of Europe's finest for 19th century and 20th century art.

Gloor said the museum was reconsidering its security, including limiting visits
to groups by prior arrangement. But he said he feared going too far.

"I see the intimate character that we used to have in this house threatened," he
said.

But no matter what measures the museum imposes, it will probably be easier for
criminal to target art than to hold up a bank, which is "better protected, with
guards carrying guns, than a small museum would be," said Kind.

Experts dismissed any suggestion the robbers knew what they were doing, saying
they appeared to be opportunists looking for easy pickings and unaware it is
virtually impossible to sell such famous works.

Kind referred to some of the biggest art heists in recent years, such as the
robbery of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and "Madonna" from the Munch Museum in
Norway in 2004, and a Leonardo da Vinci painting from a castle in Scotland in
2003. Those works were recovered.

"The robbers were successful in the first part of their job: to get possession
of the paintings or the other works of art," he said. "But they faced enormous -
and perhaps unexpected - difficulties in realizing the second part: making money
out of it."
Associated Press writers Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva and Lily Hindy in New
York contributed to this report.