France plans tighter security after art thefts

PARIS (Reuters) - French authorities plan to boost security in museums and churches across the country after a spate of art thefts, the culture ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry cited a series of recent raids which underlined the "greed that art works arouse in bold and determined individuals."

Local authorities, the French museum service and the national architecture and heritage service would meet Culture Minister Christine Albanel next month to coordinate tighter security measures, the ministry said.

Albanel had asked the justice ministry to look at adapting existing laws to focus more closely on theft and vandalism in museums and heritage sites, it added.

Recent incidents included an armed robbery in which four paintings were stolen from a Nice museum, the theft of part of a Renaissance panel from the Saint Pierre cathedral in Rennes and the theft of 91 religious artifacts, most made of silver, from Saint Etienne cathedral in Toulouse.

On Tuesday night, thieves broke into Saint Jean Baptiste cathedral in the southwestern town of Perpignan and stole almost all of its gold and silver liturgical artifacts.

Soaring prices for major art works have prompted a series of major robberies in recent years, including the theft earlier this year of two Picasso pictures from the Paris apartment of one of the Spanish painter's granddaughters.

With a rich cultural heritage, more than 1,200 museums across the country as well as hundreds of churches, many containing valuable works of art, France is particularly at risk from art theft.