2,200 cultural heritage objects officially declared lost

TIRANA, Nov. 24 – Some 2,200 cultural heritage objects are officially declared lost in Albania since the early 90s when the country’s communist regime collapsed. The alarming figures were announced this week by Culture and Tourism Minister Aldo Bumci during a regional meeting on the fight against illicit traffic of cultural property in South-East Europe, organized by the UNESCO Venice Office. “The Albanian government is working in cooperation with Interpol to return these objects and there are positive signals for some of them, with procedures for their return home already underway,” said minister Bumci.
The South East European Heritage, a network of non-governmental NGOs from SEE, has made a public appeal to Albanian authorities to make the necessary legal changes that would consider illicit trade of works of art a heavy crime. In a meeting held in Tirana earlier this year, representatives of the SEE Heritage Network stressed the need for the cultural heritage law to be amended with issues related to higher security and monitoring of cultural heritage sites and museums or galleries. It urged Albanian authorities to recognize private collections as a legal category in order for them to be listed and properly safeguarded.
“Responsible authorities should increase resources for training civil servants in matters of prevention and fight against illicit trade, as well as ensure exchange of experience and introduction of exemplary developed models, i.e Italian, French, UK model. Information on illicitly traded cultural objects should be made public, and participatory measures should include tools such as emergency phone number, in order to combat their potential sale,” said the NGOs.
“We urge the decision makers and political structures, responsible institutions and organizations, to further develop and fully apply all necessary mechanisms and legal means to combat this problem. Considering cultural heritage a valuable resource of the entire region, we ask SEE countries to enhance their cooperation in this area and work jointly upon raising awareness about this problem among the public in the region.”