Vandalism

The Rijksmuseum Twenthe in the Netherlands is presently
collaborating with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands, in order to review the museums' disaster/emergency
planning.

In particular we are attempting to gather as much information as
possible concerning first-aid procedures in the case of random
attacks on works of art in museums, such as: acid-attacks (e.g. The
acid attack on the A. Durer in Munich) or attacks with sharp
instruments (e.g. Barnett Newman in the Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam).

There is however little to be found in the literature concerning
which procedures one should adopt in the case of such attacks. We
were hoping that other museums in the world may have sufficiently
developed their emergency strategies and that such procedures may
have already been set to paper. In order to be clear, what we mean
by procedures is what does one actually do when such an attack takes
place: shut the room to the public? Who calls the conservation
department? Who removes the painting from the wall? Who does what
and when? Should the painting be placed face-down or face-up?

Although we realise that this sort of information may be
confidential to each museum, we would greatly appreciate it if it
would be possible to receive information concerning which procedures
have been adopted in your museum.

We shall shortly be organising an internal workshop (Rijksmuseum
Twenthe and Van Gogh Museum) concerning the more practical aspects
of this sort of attack: which materials should be used for which
sort of attack and more importantly we are hoping to determine the
content of a 'first-aid kit'. We would of course be prepared to
communicate the results of this workshop to whoever may be
interested.

If it would be possible to communicate information concerning
these procedures, please send to:

    Mrs. F. Verberne
    Rijksmuseum Twenthe
    Conservation Department
    Lasondersingel 129-131
    7514 BP Enschede
    +31 53 435 86 75
    Fax: +31 53 435 90 02
    fverberne [at] rijksmuseum-twenthe__nl

F. Verberne
Paintings' Conservator
Rijksmuseum Twenthe

E. Hendriks
Head of Paintings
Conservation Van Gogh Museum


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:37
                 Distributed: Monday, November 12, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-37-014
                                  ***