Protecting art and cultural heritage in the face of adversity

Cultural heritage is a valuable part of a nation’s identity. Whilst often financially valuable, many items also have powerful collective emotional value for good or bad.

Because of this, nationally important collections have always been vulnerable to theft and destruction in times of war and political upheaval. Most ancient artefacts have passed through numerous hands before resting in their current place – Napolean taking from Venice artefacts that the Venetians had previously taken from Constantinople is but one example. Artefacts can also provoke visceral responses, even driving some to defacement or destruction in a direct engagement with the past to press a modern issue (a recent example of this being the defacing of Arthur Balfour’s portrait to make a pro-Palestinian statement), or to try and re-write the past by inserting or removing papers from an established collection. Additionally, artefacts are of course vulnerable to theft due to their value or unique desirability.

Whilst the importance of these collections is rarely challenged, the funds available to protect them are frequently limited, and the arts, heritage and culture sector is therefore reliant on a core of highly trained and experienced staff, supported by large numbers of more junior staff and volunteers. The sector benefits from the passion and enthusiasm most bring to their work within it, even, in some parts of the world, paying with their lives to try and protect the heritage they care so deeply about. Examples of such events include the world-renowned archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad beheaded by Isis for refusing to give information about Palmyra, and Ukrainian and Sudanese staff, amongst many others, who are currently trying to protect their countries’ cultural heritage. However, this immense care can, in some cases, generate a culture where those in senior positions are viewed as unchallengeable. Also, collections need to be made available for study, meaning that access has to be given to numerous visiting researchers, which puts additional demands on time and resources. 

Whilst Britain is not currently facing hostile armed forces on the doorsteps of its museums, the recent report into the thefts from the British Museum has highlighted that even our premier institutions are still vulnerable to “attack” – in this case, a prolonged period of theft by someone senior on the inside.  Thankfully, such events are rare.

However, the independent ‘Collection Security Review’ commissioned by the museum highlighted failings in collection registration, risk assessment, security, and management, all of which came together to create an environment that allowed the thefts to go unnoticed and then un-investigated for “a considerable period of time”. The report makes numerous recommendations, including completing the registration of the entire museum collection (something the museum has committed to do within the next five years), strengthening its audit and risk functions, and improving security measures (although the detail of these has not for obvious reasons been disclosed). The report also calls for a review of the Collections Care strategy to ensure, amongst other things, that it “removes potential areas of friction between curatorial staff and the Collections Care team”. This last point may be indicative of a deeper cultural point that needs to be addressed. 

Having clear workable policies in place, to delineate who has ultimate responsibility for what, is key; but making sure these policies are implemented is always another matter. Many of our premier institutions occupy old buildings, which do not lend themselves to the easy oversight of colleagues’ work, and the cultural issues identified above can make less-senior individuals feel unempowered to challenge those above them. Perhaps a kind of root and branch review of an organisation’s culture, such as we have witnessed in relation to changed approaches to safeguarding individuals, is needed alongside more robust policies to ensure that the protection of our irreplaceable collections is placed front and centre.

For more information, please get in touch with Stone King’s specialist Arts, Culture and Heritage Team.