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ARCA Associates participating in International Conference on Protecting Cultural Heritage As a Common Good of Humanity: A Challenge for Criminal Justice; Italian conference scheduled Dec. 13-15 in Courmayeur Mont Blanc

ARCA's CEO Lynda Albertson; ARCA lecturers Richard Ellis and Derek Fincham; and 2012 and 2013 award winners, Jason Felch and Duncan Chappell, will be speaking at the International Conference on Protecting Cultural Heritage As a Common Good of Humanity: A Challenge for Criminal Justice on December 13-15 in Courmayeur Mont Blanc in Italy 13-15 December 2013.

This cultural heritage protection conference is the initiative of International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations; Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme-ISPAC; Fondazione Centro Nazionale di Prevenzione e Difesa Sociale-CNPDS; and Fondazione Courmayeur Mont Blanc in co-operation with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime-UNODC, Vienna under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

ISPAC is organizing an International Conference aimed at exploring the indispensable role of crime prevention and criminal justice responses, at both international and domestic level, in combating all forms of trafficking in cultural property and related offences in a comprehensive and effective manner. This Conference addressed to international organizations, national enforcement agencies, academics, cultural institutions, private sector operators in art and antiquities follows a long-established commitment of ISPAC in the protection of cultural heritage and public goods as one of the most relevant challenges for contemporary criminal policy. Cultural heritage has come to be perceived not only as an asset for the "source Countries", but also, more relevantly, as the object of a cultural right any human being is entitled to, as well as a fundamental heritage for the whole mankind. Hence the growing interest that the United Nations, as well as many other international organizations, have been developing in the phenomenon, and the commitment to produce and implement international legal instruments aimed at protecting cultural heritage.

In the past, several instruments have been adopted. The prevention and sanctioning of harms traditionally inflicted to cultural property during wars was the first aim to be pursued through the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954), and its Additional Protocols as well as the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions (1977). Other interventions by the international community focussed on illicit imports, exports and transfers of ownership of cultural property under any kind of circumstance, and namely the UNESCO Convention (1970), as well as the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (1995). The international commitment to the safeguard of cultural heritage found also expression in several other international instruments, such as the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001), the European Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property (1985), the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (1969) and its revised version (1992).

Nowadays the pervasiveness of this phenomenon, and its very complex features, are increasingly acknowledged at both international and national level. Trafficking in cultural property, as well as all other crimes related to cultural objects (such as looting, illicit import and export, forgery, and so on), are believed to be a constantly growing sector of criminality, and an increasingly attractive one for national and transnational criminal organizations. Hence, too, the growing involvement of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in drafting and implementing international instruments to face offences against cultural heritage. Since 2009 several initiatives were adopted pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 2008/23. In its resolution 2010/19, then, the Council considered that the Organized Crime Convention (2000), as well as the UN Convention against Corruption (2003), should be fully used for the purpose of strengthening the fight against trafficking in cultural property. At its twentieth session, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice prepared a draft resolution (2011/42) entitled Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Responses to Protect Cultural Property, Especially with Regard to its Trafficking, in which it mandated the Secretariat to further explore the development of specific guidelines for crime prevention and criminal justice responses with respect to trafficking in cultural property, and invited Member States to submit written comments on the UN Model Treaty for the Prevention of Crimes that Infringe on the Cultural Heritage of Peoples in the Form of Movable Property. Finally, in April 2013, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice recommended to the ECOSOC a draft resolution on Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Responses to Protect Cultural Property, Especially with Regard to its Trafficking, to be submitted for adoption to the General Assembly. The Thirteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (to be held in Qatar in 2015) will specifically focus - among others - on comprehensive and balanced approaches to prevent and adequately respond to new and emerging forms of transnational crime, such as trafficking of cultural property.

ISPAC's Conference aims at exploring the indispensable role of crime prevention and criminal justice responses in combating all forms of trafficking in cultural property and related offences in a comprehensive and effective manner; the need for States to consider reviewing their legal frameworks, in order to provide the most extensive international cooperation to fully address trafficking in cultural property; the possibility for national jurisdictions to make trafficking in cultural property (including stealing and looting at archaeological and other cultural sites) a serious crime, as defined in art. 2 UNCTOC, as well as to fully utilize that Convention for the purpose of extensive international cooperation; finally, the importance of a speedy and effective finalization of the Guidelines, on the basis of the work carried out in the last years. Further issues worth consideration will be the need for credible and comparable data on different aspects of crimes against cultural property, including the links with transnational organized crime and the laundering of illicit proceeds, as well as the benefits of collecting and comparing best practices both in the public and in the private sector.

PROGRAMME (contacts with panellists are in progress)

Opening Session • LODOVICO PASSERIN de ENTRÈVES, Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Courmayeur Mont Blanc Foundation, Italy • FABRIZIA DERRIARD, Mayor of Courmayeur, Italy • AUGUSTO ROLLANDIN, President, Region of Aosta Valley, Italy • LIVIA POMODORO, President, Court of Milan, Italy; CNPDS/ISPAC Chairman • Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism • Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Keynote Address • JOHN SANDAGE, Director Division for Treaty Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime-UNODC, Vienna, Austria

Session I ILLEGAL TRAFFIC OF CULTURAL PROPERTY : THE NEED FOR A REFORM Chair DUNCAN CHAPPELL, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Sydney, Australia; ISPAC Board Member

• Cultural Heritage and Commons: New Tasks for International Community. UGO MATTEI, Professor of Private Comparative Law at University of Turin, Italy; University of California, Hastings College of Law, USA

• Curbing Illegal Traffic of Cultural Property: Initiatives at the International Level STEFANO MANACORDA, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Naples II, Italy; Collège de France, Paris, France; Deputy Chair and Director ISPAC

• Anatomy of a Statue Trafficking Network: an Empirical Report from Regional Case Study Fieldwork SIMON MACKENZIE, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of Glasgow, UK

SESSION II THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND THE FIGHT AGAINST ILLICIT TRAFFICKING OF CULTURAL PROPERTY Chair TULLIO SCOVAZZI, Professor of International Law, University of Milan Bicocca, Italy

• ALBERTO DEREGIBUS, Colonel, Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, Carabinieri Corps, UNESCO, Paris, France

• SARA GREENBLATT, Chief, Organized Crime Branch, Division for Treaty Affairs, UNODC, Vienna, Austria

• FOLARIN SHYLLON, Professor at Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Session III INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES NATIONAL JURISDICTION Chair EMILIO VIANO, Professor, Department of Justice, Law and Society, American University, Washington DC, USA

• HUANG FENG, Professor of Criminal Law, Director Institute for International Criminal Law, Beijing Normal University, China

• DEREK FINCHAM, Associate Professor, South Texas College of Law, Houston, USA

• Cultural heritage crime in the Islamic Penal Code of Iran MIR MOHAMMAD SADEGHI, Professor of Criminal Law and Head of Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran; UNESCO Chairholder for Human Rights, Peace And Democracy, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

• HELENA REGINA LOBO DA COSTA, Professor, University of São Paulo, Brazil (tbc)

• ADOLFO MEDRANO MALLQUI, Professor of Criminal Law, Lawyer, Lima, Peru Coffee Break

SESSION III (continued) POLICE COOPERATION Chair EMILIO VIANO, Professor, Department of Justice, Law and Society, American University, Washington DC, USA

• RICHARD ELLIS, Founder of Scotland Yard! s Art and Antiquities Squad, London, UK • ANTONIO COPPOLA, Major, Head of the Operative Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, Carabinieri Corps, Rome, Italy

• STÉPHANE GAUFFENY, Colonel, Central office for the fight against Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods (OCBC), Central Directorate of Judicial Police, Paris, France (tbc)

• DOMENICO GIANI, Inspector General of the Gendarmeria Corps, Vatican City (tbc

SESSION III (continued) RETURN, RESTITUTION AND CONFISCATION Chair LUIS ARROYO ZAP ATERO, Professor of Criminal Law, Universidad Castilla-la-Mancha, Spain

• Restitution and International Judicial Cooperation MARC-ANDRÉ RENOLD, Professor of Art and Cultural Property Law; Director of the Art-Law Centre; Holder of the UNESCO Chair in the International Law of Cultural Heritage at the University of Geneva, Switzerland

MARIE PFAMMATTER, post doctoral researcher, University of Geneva, Switzerland

• PASCAL BEAUVAIS, Professor, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre, Paris France

• STEVEN FELDMAN, Partner, Herrick, Feinstein LLP, New York, USA

• MARK V. VLASIC, Senior Fellow & Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University, Washington, USA

SESSION IV THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE ACTORS IN PREVENTING ILLEGAL TRAFFIC Chair LUIS ARROYO ZAP ATERO, Professor of Criminal Law, Universidad Castilla-la-Mancha, Spain

• ROBERT WITTMAN, Art Crime Investigator, President of Robert Wittman Inc., Pennsylvania, USA

• JAMES RATCLIFFE, Head of Recoveries, The Art Loss Register-ALR, London, UK

• LYNDA ALBERTSON, Chief Executive Officer, Association for Research into Crimes against Art-ARCA, Rome, Italy

• ROBERT N. LAYNE, Executive Director, International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection, Denver, CO, USA

• MARK STARLING, Chair, International Convention Of Exhibition And Fine Art Transporters-ICEFAT, Toronto, Canada

Round Table PROTECTING CULTURAL PROPERTY: CASE STUDIES AND BEST PRACTICES Chair SIMON MACKENZIE, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of Glasgow, UK

• GIOVANNI MELILLO, Prosecutor, Court of Naples, Italy

• FABRIZIO LEMME, Professor and Lawyer, Rome, Italy

• TESS DAVIS, Vice Chair of the American Society of International Law! s Cultural Heritage and the Arts Interest Group - Researcher SCCJR, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK

• FABIO ISMAN, Journalist, Italy

• JASON FELCH, Journalist, Los Angeles Times, USA

Conference Venue Conference Hall, Hôtel Pavillon Via Regionale, 62 - 11013 Courmayeur (AO) Official Languages English and Italian with simultaneous interpretation

Conference Secretariat Fondazione Centro nazionale di prevenzione e difesa sociale-CNPDS Palazzo Comunale delle Scienze Sociali 3, Piazza Castello - 20121 Milano MI Tel.: +39 02 86.46.07.14 - Fax: +39 02 72.00.84.31 E-mail: cnpds.ispac@cnpds.it - Home page: www.cnpds.it Home page: http://ispac.cnpds.org

ISPAC is organizing an International Conference aimed at exploring the indispensable role of crime prevention and criminal justice responses, at both international and domestic level, in combating all forms of trafficking in cultural property and related offences in a comprehensive and effective manner. This Conference addressed to international organizations, national enforcement agencies, academics, cultural institutions, private sector operators in art and antiquities follows a long-established commitment of ISPAC in the protection of cultural heritage and public goods as one of the most relevant challenges for contemporary criminal policy. Cultural heritage has come to be perceived not only as an asset for the "source Countries", but also, more relevantly, as the object of a cultural right any human being is entitled to, as well as a fundamental heritage for the whole mankind. Hence the growing interest that the United Nations, as well as many other international organizations, have been developing in the phenomenon, and the commitment to produce and implement international legal instruments aimed at protecting cultural heritage.

In the past, several instruments have been adopted. The prevention and sanctioning of harms traditionally inflicted to cultural property during wars was the first aim to be pursued through the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954), and its Additional Protocols as well as the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions (1977). Other interventions by the international community focussed on illicit imports, exports and transfers of ownership of cultural property under any kind of circumstance, and namely the UNESCO Convention (1970), as well as the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (1995). The international commitment to the safeguard of cultural heritage found also expression in several other international instruments, such as the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001), the European Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property (1985), the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (1969) and its revised version (1992).

Nowadays the pervasiveness of this phenomenon, and its very complex features, are increasingly acknowledged at both international and national level. Trafficking in cultural property, as well as all other crimes related to cultural objects (such as looting, illicit import and export, forgery, and so on), are believed to be a constantly growing sector of criminality, and an increasingly attractive one for national and transnational criminal organizations. Hence, too, the growing involvement of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in drafting and implementing international instruments to face offences against cultural heritage. Since 2009 several initiatives were adopted pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 2008/23. In its resolution 2010/19, then, the Council considered that the Organized Crime Convention (2000), as well as the UN Convention against Corruption (2003), should be fully used for the purpose of strengthening the fight against trafficking in cultural property. At its twentieth session, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice prepared a draft resolution (2011/42) entitled Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Responses to Protect Cultural Property, Especially with Regard to its Trafficking, in which it mandated the Secretariat to further explore the development of specific guidelines for crime prevention and criminal justice responses with respect to trafficking in cultural property, and invited Member States to submit written comments on the UN Model Treaty for the Prevention of Crimes that Infringe on the Cultural Heritage of Peoples in the Form of Movable Property. Finally, in April 2013, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice recommended to the ECOSOC a draft resolution on Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Responses to Protect Cultural Property, Especially with Regard to its Trafficking, to be submitted for adoption to the General Assembly. The Thirteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (to be held in Qatar in 2015) will specifically focus - among others - on comprehensive and balanced approaches to prevent and adequately respond to new and emerging forms of transnational crime, such as trafficking of cultural property.

ISPAC's Conference aims at exploring the indispensable role of crime prevention and criminal justice responses in combating all forms of trafficking in cultural property and related offences in a comprehensive and effective manner; the need for States to consider reviewing their legal frameworks, in order to provide the most extensive international cooperation to fully address trafficking in cultural property; the possibility for national jurisdictions to make trafficking in cultural property (including stealing and looting at archaeological and other cultural sites) a serious crime, as defined in art. 2 UNCTOC, as well as to fully utilize that Convention for the purpose of extensive international cooperation; finally, the importance of a speedy and effective finalization of the Guidelines, on the basis of the work carried out in the last years. Further issues worth consideration will be the need for credible and comparable data on different aspects of crimes against cultural property, including the links with transnational organized crime and the laundering of illicit proceeds, as well as the benefits of collecting and comparing best practices both in the public and in the private sector.

PROGRAMME (contacts with panellists are in progress)

Opening Session • LODOVICO PASSERIN de ENTRÈVES, Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Courmayeur Mont Blanc Foundation, Italy • FABRIZIA DERRIARD, Mayor of Courmayeur, Italy • AUGUSTO ROLLANDIN, President, Region of Aosta Valley, Italy • LIVIA POMODORO, President, Court of Milan, Italy; CNPDS/ISPAC Chairman • Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism • Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Keynote Address • JOHN SANDAGE, Director Division for Treaty Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime-UNODC, Vienna, Austria

Session I ILLEGAL TRAFFIC OF CULTURAL PROPERTY : THE NEED FOR A REFORM Chair DUNCAN CHAPPELL, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Sydney, Australia; ISPAC Board Member

• Cultural Heritage and Commons: New Tasks for International Community. UGO MATTEI, Professor of Private Comparative Law at University of Turin, Italy; University of California, Hastings College of Law, USA

• Curbing Illegal Traffic of Cultural Property: Initiatives at the International Level STEFANO MANACORDA, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Naples II, Italy; Collège de France, Paris, France; Deputy Chair and Director ISPAC

• Anatomy of a Statue Trafficking Network: an Empirical Report from Regional Case Study Fieldwork SIMON MACKENZIE, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of Glasgow, UK

SESSION II THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND THE FIGHT AGAINST ILLICIT TRAFFICKING OF CULTURAL PROPERTY Chair TULLIO SCOVAZZI, Professor of International Law, University of Milan Bicocca, Italy

• ALBERTO DEREGIBUS, Colonel, Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, Carabinieri Corps, UNESCO, Paris, France

• SARA GREENBLATT, Chief, Organized Crime Branch, Division for Treaty Affairs, UNODC, Vienna, Austria

• FOLARIN SHYLLON, Professor at Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Session III INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES NATIONAL JURISDICTION Chair EMILIO VIANO, Professor, Department of Justice, Law and Society, American University, Washington DC, USA

• HUANG FENG, Professor of Criminal Law, Director Institute for International Criminal Law, Beijing Normal University, China

• DEREK FINCHAM, Associate Professor, South Texas College of Law, Houston, USA

• Cultural heritage crime in the Islamic Penal Code of Iran MIR MOHAMMAD SADEGHI, Professor of Criminal Law and Head of Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran; UNESCO Chairholder for Human Rights, Peace And Democracy, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

• HELENA REGINA LOBO DA COSTA, Professor, University of São Paulo, Brazil (tbc)

• ADOLFO MEDRANO MALLQUI, Professor of Criminal Law, Lawyer, Lima, Peru Coffee Break

SESSION III (continued) POLICE COOPERATION Chair EMILIO VIANO, Professor, Department of Justice, Law and Society, American University, Washington DC, USA

• RICHARD ELLIS, Founder of Scotland Yard! s Art and Antiquities Squad, London, UK • ANTONIO COPPOLA, Major, Head of the Operative Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, Carabinieri Corps, Rome, Italy

• STÉPHANE GAUFFENY, Colonel, Central office for the fight against Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods (OCBC), Central Directorate of Judicial Police, Paris, France (tbc)

• DOMENICO GIANI, Inspector General of the Gendarmeria Corps, Vatican City (tbc

SESSION III (continued) RETURN, RESTITUTION AND CONFISCATION Chair LUIS ARROYO ZAP ATERO, Professor of Criminal Law, Universidad Castilla-la-Mancha, Spain

• Restitution and International Judicial Cooperation MARC-ANDRÉ RENOLD, Professor of Art and Cultural Property Law; Director of the Art-Law Centre; Holder of the UNESCO Chair in the International Law of Cultural Heritage at the University of Geneva, Switzerland

MARIE PFAMMATTER, post doctoral researcher, University of Geneva, Switzerland

• PASCAL BEAUVAIS, Professor, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre, Paris France

• STEVEN FELDMAN, Partner, Herrick, Feinstein LLP, New York, USA

• MARK V. VLASIC, Senior Fellow & Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University, Washington, USA

SESSION IV THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE ACTORS IN PREVENTING ILLEGAL TRAFFIC Chair LUIS ARROYO ZAP ATERO, Professor of Criminal Law, Universidad Castilla-la-Mancha, Spain

• ROBERT WITTMAN, Art Crime Investigator, President of Robert Wittman Inc., Pennsylvania, USA

• JAMES RATCLIFFE, Head of Recoveries, The Art Loss Register-ALR, London, UK

• LYNDA ALBERTSON, Chief Executive Officer, Association for Research into Crimes against Art-ARCA, Rome, Italy

• ROBERT N. LAYNE, Executive Director, International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection, Denver, CO, USA

• MARK STARLING, Chair, International Convention Of Exhibition And Fine Art Transporters-ICEFAT, Toronto, Canada

Round Table PROTECTING CULTURAL PROPERTY: CASE STUDIES AND BEST PRACTICES Chair SIMON MACKENZIE, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of Glasgow, UK

• GIOVANNI MELILLO, Prosecutor, Court of Naples, Italy

• FABRIZIO LEMME, Professor and Lawyer, Rome, Italy

• TESS DAVIS, Vice Chair of the American Society of International Law! s Cultural Heritage and the Arts Interest Group - Researcher SCCJR, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK

• FABIO ISMAN, Journalist, Italy

• JASON FELCH, Journalist, Los Angeles Times, USA

Conference Venue Conference Hall, Hôtel Pavillon Via Regionale, 62 - 11013 Courmayeur (AO) Official Languages English and Italian with simultaneous interpretation

Conference Secretariat Fondazione Centro nazionale di prevenzione e difesa sociale-CNPDS Palazzo Comunale delle Scienze Sociali 3, Piazza Castello - 20121 Milano MI Tel.: +39 02 86.46.07.14 - Fax: +39 02 72.00.84.31 E-mail: cnpds.ispac@cnpds.it - Home page: www.cnpds.it Home page: http://ispac.cnpds.org

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ARCA's Art & Cultural Heritage Conference 2013: Giulia Mezzi (University of Reading), Carrie Johnson (South Texas College of Law) and Cynthia Roholt (South Texas College of Law)

The conference's last panel: (left to right), Giulia Mezzi,
Derek Fincham, Cynthia Roholt, and Carrie Johnson

The last panel of ARCA's fifth annual conference on art crime (June 21-23, 2013), moderated by Professor Derek Fincham, featured presentations by students in cultural property and law.

Giulia Mezzi, PhD Candidate, University of Reading, presented on "The origins of Cultural Heritage Protection in Italy, a historical survey":

This presentation aimed to outline the thought and philosophy behind the modern concept of cultural heritage protection in Italy -- both in legal terms but also in the broader sense of the monument's material preservation.

The first edicts concerning heritage protection appeared in the Papal States during the Early Renaissance. In a later stage, law shielding heritage from the damages of natural decay, war, plundering or illegal exportation became more sophisticated, especially during the 19th century with the historical processes of nation-formation, where monuments or works of art acquired the symbolic meaning of the country's Volksgeist. The fundamental ideas present in those pioneering decrees are reflected in the contemporary international legislation and to this regard, I attempt to highlight the growing awareness -- legal, social, and political -- of the value of cultural heritage that went beyond the territorial boundaries of the Italian peninsula.

Carrie Johnson, JD Candidate, South Texas College of Law, presented on "Cultural Property in Crisis: Whose Burden is it?". Ms. Johnson previously graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor's degree in History and minors in Journalism and Anthropology.

Ms. Cynthia Roholt, JD Candidate, South Texas College of Law, presented on "Human Remains: Permission and Plastination."

The conference's last panel: (left to right), Giulia Mezzi,
Derek Fincham, Cynthia Roholt, and Carrie Johnson

The last panel of ARCA's fifth annual conference on art crime (June 21-23, 2013), moderated by Professor Derek Fincham, featured presentations by students in cultural property and law.

Giulia Mezzi, PhD Candidate, University of Reading, presented on "The origins of Cultural Heritage Protection in Italy, a historical survey":

This presentation aimed to outline the thought and philosophy behind the modern concept of cultural heritage protection in Italy -- both in legal terms but also in the broader sense of the monument's material preservation.

The first edicts concerning heritage protection appeared in the Papal States during the Early Renaissance. In a later stage, law shielding heritage from the damages of natural decay, war, plundering or illegal exportation became more sophisticated, especially during the 19th century with the historical processes of nation-formation, where monuments or works of art acquired the symbolic meaning of the country's Volksgeist. The fundamental ideas present in those pioneering decrees are reflected in the contemporary international legislation and to this regard, I attempt to highlight the growing awareness -- legal, social, and political -- of the value of cultural heritage that went beyond the territorial boundaries of the Italian peninsula.

Ms. Cynthia Roholt, JD Candidate, South Texas College of Law, presented on "Human Remains: Permission and Plastination."

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ARCA 2013 Art Crime Conference on Saturday Afternoon: Derek Fincham and Stefano Alessandrini discuss the Fano Athlete/Getty Bronze

Dr. Derek Fincham, Associate Professor at South Texas College of Law where he teaches art law and legal writing, has researched legal statutes under intentional and cultural law of who should possess the Fano Athlete/Getty Bronze when the statue is ancient Greek, found in Italy, smuggled out of the country, conserved in England and sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum in the United States.

The statue was created using a lost wax technique in the 2-3^rdcentury BCE and lost in the Adriatic Sea. Around 1964, Italian fisherman retrieved the hollow bronze in a chance find in either Italian or international waters. Since the sea-encrusted statue began to smell after a few days, the statue was sold to a priest then handed over to the Barbetti brothers who moved it inland and buried it from the authorities. The statue was illegally exported to Brazil and then returned to Europe, first England then Germany, for conservation work.

The Italian justices prosecuted the buyers but the conviction was overturned because they were unable to establish that the statue was an object of cultural importance because no photo of it could be produced in court. Where was it found – in international or domestic waters?

J. Paul Getty himself was reluctant to purchase the bronze without approval from the Italian authorities but the museum trustees approved the $4 million purchase in 1977 after Getty’s death.

The Italians knew it has been illegally exported so they came up with a new strategy: initiate a forfeiture proceeding in Italy and look to have it honored by the Getty or if necessary, enforced by a U.S. Court.

In April 2012, an Italian court has ordered the return of the statue. Can the courts in the US get the Getty to comply? The Getty hired Italian lawyers to fight the forfeiture action.

The Mutual Legal Assistant Treaty, signed in 1982 and renewed in 2010, is the legal tool used to facilitate enforcement of legal decisions between Italy and the United States.

The Getty arguments are based on prescription (timeliness); that the object was found in international waters; that the US doesn’t enforce public laws absent a treaty; no defendant has been convicted in Italian court for handle the bronze; and the statue is being cared for at the museum in Malibu.

Meanwhile, the town of Fano has installed a copy of the bronze at its harbor.

Here's a link to Professor Fincham's essay "Will the Getty have to return "Victorious Youth""?

J. Paul Getty himself was reluctant to purchase the bronze without approval from the Italian authorities but the museum trustees approved the $4 million purchase in 1977 after Getty’s death.

In April 2012, an Italian court has ordered the return of the statue. Can the courts in the US get the Getty to comply? The Getty hired Italian lawyers to fight the forfeiture action.

The Mutual Legal Assistant Treaty, signed in 1982 and renewed in 2010, is the legal tool used to facilitate enforcement of legal decisions between Italy and the United States.

Meanwhile, the town of Fano has installed a copy of the bronze at its harbor.

Here's a link to Professor Fincham's essay "Will the Getty have to return "Victorious Youth""?

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Report from Amelia: Erik Nemeth lectures on Cultural Security at ARCA's Postgraduate Certificate Program

by Yasmin Hamed, ARCA Intern

Week Seven of ARCA's Postgraduate Certificate Program got off to an unusual start with most of this year’s students off-site. Monday and Tuesday saw the remnants of the long weekend break where many of the students travelled both within and beyond Italy. Students enjoyed the sights around Italy such as Bari, Matera, Venice, Milan and Florence in addition to other locations beyond the borders such as Switzerland, Serbia, Marrakech and Malta.

Our slower than usual return to classes on Wednesday afternoon began our first day of a new module on Cultural Securityled by Dr. Erik Nemeth. With a brief segue from art crime, our first encounter focused on the interdisciplinary nature of Cultural Security and the interactions of each discipline very thoroughly represented in our class from the three areas of physical, political and economic spheres.

With our first full day of classes we further examined the dimensions of cultural security during three main temporal spheres: the Second World War, the Cold War, and the Post-Cold War periods. The dynamics between cultural security and cultural intelligence opened up a discussion on the problems and solutions currently at play on the international field. Again, each student offered insights from their own fields. Dr. Nemeth’s presentations offered a view of cultural security through a series of well-known case studies such as the infamous destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhasin Afghanistan in 2001 and of the Samarra Mosque in Iraq in 2006.

A discussion of the great losses to cultural property could only be followed with the counter-active measures: cultural intelligence services. Dr. Nemeth’s scientific approach to this subject brought about a new way of attacking our studies through the use of statistical analysis. This data may be used to predict threatened cultural heritage sites worldwide by organizations who are tasked with the protection of cultural property in areas of conflict.

As we are getting further and further into the course, an interesting dynamic begins to arise. Having covered such significant areas such as bi-lateral agreements previously in our class on Art Crime in War with Judge Arthur Tompkins, in addition to during our class on Art and Heritage Law with Derek Fincham, we are now garnering a view of intricate subject areas such as this from a number of viewpoints. This multi-disciplinary approach to major issues within the area of art crime research is creating a solid foundation in our knowledge of this area with every new module.

Coming off the hectic travel during the long weekend, and with no formally arranged class trips, most students took advantage of last weekend to relax. A fantastic birthday party for one of the students at the top of Amelia beside the duomo offered astounding panoramic views of Amelia. As Week Seven came to a close, some of our students even benefited from a poolside reading of Dorit Straus’ article on “Insurance Claims and the Art Market” in preparation for Week Eight in ARCA’s 2013 Postgraduate Program.

by Yasmin Hamed, ARCA Intern

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Report from ARCA in Amelia: Judge Arthur Tompkins Lectures on "Art in War"; Derek Fincham on "Cultural Heritage Law"; and Dick Drent on Museum Security

by Summer Kelley-Bell, ARCA Intern

The last weeks have been endlessly busy and massively interesting. Classes settled back into a normal routine after the close of ARCA’s Art Crime conference and we have all refocused ourselves to learning. Rounding out the month of June and ushering in a cooler than usual July, our class time has been split between two professors each teaching two separate, but overlapping courses. The first half of each week was dedicated to Judge Arthur Tompkins’ “Art Crime in War” course while the second half focused on Derek Fincham’s “Art and Heritage Law.”

2013 Course photo with Judge Arthur Tompkins

Arthur Tompkins, a sitting judge for the Ministry of Justice in New Zealand, started off each week for us. His course took us from classical antiquity and up through the present day emphasizing the different ways that the world's art has suffered during times of armed conflict. His classes looked at the destruction of the library at Nineveh and how it grew directly out of conflict with the Babylonians and moved all the way through today's current armed conflicts highlighting the impact of looting and the destruction of the Timbuktu manuscripts from Mali.

Each day’s classes brought us interesting case studies and underscored the laws that have successfully (and not so successfully) been applied over the years to try and combat the destruction of cultural heritage. Judge Tompkins' course highlighted how art can be used as a tool by rulers to show the subjugation of those they have conquered and reminded us of the many different ways that we can use this awareness in order to protect art during war time in the future.

Field Class at the Necropoli
della Banditaccia

Tompkins’ course was offset nicely by that of Derek Fincham, an associate professor at South Texas College of Law, who helped us apply legal concepts touched upon in Judge Tompkins’ class to modern day world events, bettering our understanding of the evolution of cultural heritage law as it is being applied today. Dr. Fincham's course presented various case studies from differing countries in order to give us a broader view of the way that art crimes are being addressed in legal channels around the world. Throughout his course classroom and field class discussions were lively and highlighted the complex and oftentimes contentious relationships and ideological positions of many of the relevant stakeholders involved in the fields of cultural heritage.

It was a nice change of pace to have access to both professors for a full two weeks. In this way, we could take knowledge gleaned in one course and apply it nearly immediately to the next. Learning and projects aren’t the only things keeping us occupied however. Canada Day came just a few days before a pretty big American holiday this year. Not to be outdone, one of our resident Canadians brought in Canadian flag pins to celebrate the auspicious occasion. Then the interns offered up their house (which happens to have a pool) and we all took a break on Thursday to celebrate the Fourth of July. There were hotdogs and potato salad for all as we basked in a bit of sunshine and celebrated America’s birthday. Come Friday we were back to work however, with a closing class from Professor Fincham and a “hello there” to our next professor in the summer line-up.

Spray paint defacing tomb walls
at Banditaccia

The sixth week of classes started early Saturday morning with Dick Drent, the Corporate Security Manager at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, teaching us about the complexities of museum security. While this post only covers the first two days of his course, I can tell you that I will never be able to look at a museum the same way again. Time has been moving much too quickly for this intern.

Classes have been grand, but as we pass the half way mark of the program I know the end of this summer will be a hard goodbye. The professor’s we’ve had access to over the last few weeks have successfully distilled their knowledge into each of us, and now my brain is full up with all of the possibilities of the art world. Each day brings with it new challenges and new information and I am so excited for all the new things I have yet to learn.

by Summer Kelley-Bell, ARCA Intern

2013 Course photo with Judge Arthur Tompkins

Field Class at the Necropoli
della Banditaccia

Spray paint defacing tomb walls
at Banditaccia

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Derek Fincham writes on "Giorgio Vasari, Art Thief" in his column "The Empty Frame" for the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of The Journal of Art Crime

Leonardo da Vinci's "The Battle of Anghiari" 1504

In his column "The Empty Frame" for the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of The Journal of Art Crime, lawyer Derek Fincham discusses how the work of Maurizio Seracini is intent upon revealing that five hundred years ago Giorgio Vasari painted over Leonardo Da Vinci's "Battle of Anghiari" at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence:

A work titled The Battle of Anghiari has been much in the news lately, which is surprising considering it was begun in 1505 and lost to history sometime soon after. The work had a decidedly inauspicious beginning. Pope Leo X remarked that the artist “will never do anything for he begins by thinking about the end before the beginning of his work.” Its creator was given a commission to decorate one wall in the Hall of Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The work was to be displayed opposite a planned work by Michelangelo (another violent depiction, this one of the Battle of Cascina, also lost to history).

The Battle of Anghiari depicted a rush of men, swords and horses — or at least that appears to be the gist of the work based on Peter Paul Rubens’s copy. The artist of course was Leonardo da Vinci, and the painting would have been one of his final major works. He used a novel technique at the time, applying oil color to the wall along with a thick undercoat of wax and other materials. In a rush to finish the work, he ordered large charcoal braziers be brought close to the work in progress and hung from the ceiling to dry the upper part of the work. This resulted in a mess of smoke and melted wax and prevented the work from being finished. Michelangelo’s cartoon across the hall was eventually cut into pieces.

In recent years Maurizio Seracini has argued that Vasari painted over the Battle of Anghiari. He has used non-invasive measures like drilling small holes in the mural to reveal what may be behind the wall. His research has been controversial, but initial reports indicate that the chemicals and pigments found behind the Vasari mural may share chemical characteristics with other works by Leonardo. The skeptic must wonder what could be so terrific about the hidden Leonardo that would justify the removal of Vasari’s mural.

Derek Fincham is an Assistant Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law and is the new Academic Director of ARCA. His research focuses on the intersection of law with art and antiquities. He holds a Ph.D. in cultural heritage law from the University of Aberdeen, and a J.D. from Wake Forest University and is a trustee of ARCA. He maintains a weblog at http://illicit-cultural-property.blogspot.com/.

Leonardo da Vinci's "The Battle of Anghiari" 1504

A work titled The Battle of Anghiari has been much in the news lately, which is surprising considering it was begun in 1505 and lost to history sometime soon after. The work had a decidedly inauspicious beginning. Pope Leo X remarked that the artist “will never do anything for he begins by thinking about the end before the beginning of his work.” Its creator was given a commission to decorate one wall in the Hall of Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The work was to be displayed opposite a planned work by Michelangelo (another violent depiction, this one of the Battle of Cascina, also lost to history).

The Battle of Anghiari depicted a rush of men, swords and horses — or at least that appears to be the gist of the work based on Peter Paul Rubens’s copy. The artist of course was Leonardo da Vinci, and the painting would have been one of his final major works. He used a novel technique at the time, applying oil color to the wall along with a thick undercoat of wax and other materials. In a rush to finish the work, he ordered large charcoal braziers be brought close to the work in progress and hung from the ceiling to dry the upper part of the work. This resulted in a mess of smoke and melted wax and prevented the work from being finished. Michelangelo’s cartoon across the hall was eventually cut into pieces.

In recent years Maurizio Seracini has argued that Vasari painted over the Battle of Anghiari. He has used non-invasive measures like drilling small holes in the mural to reveal what may be behind the wall. His research has been controversial, but initial reports indicate that the chemicals and pigments found behind the Vasari mural may share chemical characteristics with other works by Leonardo. The skeptic must wonder what could be so terrific about the hidden Leonardo that would justify the removal of Vasari’s mural.

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The Spring/Summer 2012 Issue of The Journal of Art Crime is now available to download by subscription

The PDF edition of the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of The Journal of Art Crime can now be downloaded by subscribers. This seventh issue is edited by Noah Charney and published by ARCA.

Academic articles: "Bordering on Alchemy: A Nation of Counterfeiters" by Stephen Mihm; "Daubertizing the Art Expert" by John Daab; "Looting History: An Analysis of the Illicit Antiquities Trade in Israel" by Aleksandra Sheftel; "The Beltracchi Affair: A Comment on the "Most Spectacular" German Art Forgery Case in Recent Times" by Duncan Chappell and Saskia Hufnagel; and "The Forger's Point of View" by Thierry Lenain.

Regular columns: Donn Zaretsky's Art Law and Policy on "When Photography Might be Illegal"; Ton Cremers on "Rise in Thefts from Museums: Due to Economic Crisis?"; David Gill's Context Matters on "Princeton and Recently Surfaced Antiquities"; Derek Fincham's Empty Frame on "Giorgio Vasari, Art Thief"; and Noah Charney's Lessons from the History of Art Crime on "Mark Landis: the Forger Who Has Yet to Commit a Crime".

Editorial Essays: Joshua Knelman on "Headache Art"; Noah Charney on "Appendix on Forensics of Forgery Investigation"; and Noah Charney on "Art Crime in North America".

Reviews: Stuart George reviews "Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists" by Anthony M. Amore and Tom Mashberg; David Gill reviews "Museums Matter: In Praise of the Encyclopedic Museum" by James Cuno; Catherine Schofield Sezgin reviews "Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives Through the Secret World of Stolen Art" by Joshua Knelman; Noah Charney reviews "The Deceivers: Art Forgery and Identity in the Nineteenth Century" by Aviva Briefel; and John Kleberg reviews "Leonardo's Lost Princess" by Peter Silverman with Catherine Whitney.

Extras: Noah Charney's interviews with George H. O. Abungu; Ernst Schöller; Joris Kila and Karl von Habsburg; Ralph Frammolino and Jason Felch; Thierry Lenain; and a Q&A on "Art Crime in Canada".

There is also a list of the 2012 ARCA Awards.

Here's the link to subscribe to the electronic edition of ARCA's Journal of Art Crime.

The PDF edition of the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of The Journal of Art Crime can now be downloaded by subscribers. This seventh issue is edited by Noah Charney and published by ARCA.

Editorial Essays: Joshua Knelman on "Headache Art"; Noah Charney on "Appendix on Forensics of Forgery Investigation"; and Noah Charney on "Art Crime in North America".

Extras: Noah Charney's interviews with George H. O. Abungu; Ernst Schöller; Joris Kila and Karl von Habsburg; Ralph Frammolino and Jason Felch; Thierry Lenain; and a Q&A on "Art Crime in Canada".

There is also a list of the 2012 ARCA Awards.

Here's the link to subscribe to the electronic edition of ARCA's Journal of Art Crime.

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