Museum Security and Insurance: Safeguarding Collections with Museum Security and Insurance

The recent €88 million theft at one of the world’s most renowned museums has brought into focus the vulnerabilities many national collections face. The robbery at the Louvre is part of a broader worldwide pattern of increasingly targeted thefts from cultural institutions. This underscores the need for irreplaceable heritage assets to have the highest security and financial protection.

Escalating risks to museum collections and security measures

Over the past year, several robberies have occurred at museums across Europe. These include the theft of:

Gold nuggets from the Natural History Museum in Paris
Bronze Age jewellery from the National Museum of Wales
Gold artefacts from the Drents Museum in the Netherlands

The Louvre heist is the fourth significant one from a French museum within a 12-month period. It follows incidents in Limoges, Burgundy, and the Cognacq-Jay Museum in Paris.

Thieves are increasingly targeting precious metals and artefacts on public display. This is partly driven by soaring gold prices. So museums should factor into their security planning the intrinsic material or scrap value of their collections, as well as their market or cultural value.

The complexities of insuring national treasures

National collections held by major institutions, such as the Louvre, are typically not commercially insured given the priceless, irreplaceable value of many objects. When such cultural objects are loaned out or borrowed, especially from private collections and institutions, government indemnity schemes often act as an affordable insurance solution to pave the way for such exchanges.

Such schemes have provided adequate coverage to date. But the current uncertain geoeconomic environment and heightened security concerns are encouraging some larger institutions to explore commercial insurance solutions for their exhibitions and loans.

Fine art insurance can offer broader protection than government indemnities. It can include higher coverage limits and specialised enhancements such as:

Coverage for depreciation in value
Restoration costs
Terrorism-related risks

Lenders to national institutions have the option to carry their own commercial insurance. This should be able to cover any gaps through difference in coverage and difference in limits provisions, ensuring comprehensive protection.

Article

The growing challenges of museum security and insurance coverage

Escalating risks to museum collections and security measures

The complexities of insuring national treasures

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The growing challenges of museum security and insurance coverage

Escalating risks to museum collections and security measures

The complexities of insuring national treasures

If you would like to explore how insurance can protect your permanent collections or loans, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Marsh Specie team for advice or use the contact us form below.

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