"Custom Collections": stolen or missing cultural objects
In 2015, the Ministry of Culture made available to all a new tool contributing to the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property, a priority of the ministry’s action.
This tool allows the search of stolen or missing cultural property, referenced in national or local databases and indexed by the Ministry of Culture’s “Collections” search engine.
The user can query a part of the corpus of the «Collections» engine by filtering according to the thematic criterion « work stolen, missing, missing, not located or not seen "On these criteria, the databases Mona Lisa (collections of museums in France), Palissy (movable objects classified or listed as historical monuments) , Memoir (photographs), Mérimée (buildings protected by historical monuments), NMR (photographs), CNAP (catalogue of the National Centre for Plastic Arts)... are questioned simultaneously.
Most of the goods sought are national treasures within the meaning ofArticle L 111-1 of the French Heritage Code, many of which are in the public domain (Article L 2112-1 of the Code général de la propriété des personnes publiques – CG3P). These goods are inalienable and imprescriptible.
This privileged research tool is intended for all owners and depositories, assignees, actors of the art market including collectors, services of repression of the illicit traffic of cultural goods or customs control.
Actors in the art market are encouraged to do the required stagecoaches ("due diligence") to avoid putting up for sale or buying a questionable good that may have been distracted from public collections. In particular, the documentation service of theOCBC (Central Office for Combating Illicit Traffic in Cultural Property)or consult the database on stolen works of art, available online on registration since 2009, ofINTERPOL.
The search in this tool "Stolen and missing goods" allows additional checks because the missing goods, which have not been the subject of a complaint, are not registered in police bases of stolen objects but remain described in national databases. However, it should be recalled that these databases, which are updated regularly, are not exhaustive.
Except for exceptions (manuscripts deposited in the museums of France), this tool does not concern the heritage preserved in libraries (manuscripts, books, prints, photographs, coins and medals...) or archival (archival documents). Research on the provenance of these goods uses other databases or catalogues:
FranceArchives, national portal of archives
Catalogue Collectif de France (CCFr) (base Heritage, manuscripts and archives)
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