Word: churches
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Millions of parishioners already know the feeling. Every year, thousands of churches, chapels and monasteries across Europe are robbed of their most beloved and valuable artworks. From small-time crooks trying to earn drug money to seasoned pros who snatch massive canvases, art thieves are erasing a significant part of the religious heritage of some of the most culturally rich countries. "Our churches are being pillaged," says Captain Dominique Lambert of France's Central Office for the Fight against Traffic in Cultural Goods (OCBC). "They take everything - statues, paintings, chalices, silverwork. When a Virgin Mary is stolen from a church...
...breakup of the Soviet Union, provided a fertile environment for widespread looting of religious art and icons, which have continued to flood the black market. At the same time, cheaper security systems have made it harder to steal from museums, galleries and homes. By comparison, Europe's unprotected churches offer easy pickings. Meanwhile, the one thing that churches have relied upon for centuries to protect them is no longer quite the deterrent it used to be. "The fear of God doesn't exist anymore," laments Father Paolo Picca, pastor of the SS. Salvatore church in Velletri, Italy. "The thieves...
...small painting is one of Greece's most sacred icons. So when, one morning in August 2006, the monastery's Mother Superior followed a breeze to the back of the church and discovered that the painting was missing - its pine-and-resin cradle empty, climbing ropes dangling outside a broken window - she fell to her knees and prayed...
People don't mind when museums protect their icons by placing them in glass boxes. Likewise, galleries can ask visitors to check their bags at the door, while private collectors can rig their homes with the latest alarm systems. But in a church, even the smallest security measure is a barrier between believers and the symbols of their belief. "It's a huge dilemma," says Gligoris, head of Greece's art squad. "I can't recall how many times I've urged bishops, abbots, monks and nuns to have religious treasures stored in controlled, guarded environments, and then only bring...
...ability to run visual searches, too. If the police are lucky enough to have a picture of the item, the database will use image-recognition software to look for a match. To demonstrate, Boyer clicks on a JPEG of a sculpture of three cherubs that was stolen from a church a few years ago, then drags it into TREIMA. Almost instantly, the software finds a match with another photo of the same sculpture, taken from a different angle, in different light. "It's incredible," Boyer marvels...