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CRIME

Dali sculpture snatched from Paris museum

In the latest stolen art caper in France, a thief made off with a sculpture by surrealist art master Salvador Dali. The only good news here is that stolen works in France do sometimes get back to their rightful owners.

Dali sculpture snatched from Paris museum
The stolen bronze sculpture was a depiction of Dali's famous melting clocks, as seen here in The Persistence of Memory. Photo: Wikicommons

Police are searching for two thieves who burst into two exhibition rooms on Saturday showing works from the renowned Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali in Montmartre in Paris’s18th arrondissement.

One of the men reportedly tried to steal a sculpture entitled ‘Danse du Temps I’ at the Espace Dali on rue Poulbot. However his attempt was thwarted by a vigilant tourist and he fled empty handed.

Meanwhile, at a nearby gallery just 100 metres away on place du Tertre, a second man managed to make off with a bronze sculpture depicting Dali’s famous so-called melting clocks, a recurrent symbol in the surrealist’s work, French daily Le Parisien reported

Estimated at €22,000, the stolen work was kept behind a display case but was not equipped with an alarm. Both men managed to escape.

Sadly this isn't the first piece of art to go missing from a French museum or private collection. However, police recently recovered a Rembrandt worth millions that was stolen from a museum in the south of France. 

Also a trickle of the trove of artworks pilfered by the Nazis during World War II have found their way back to their rightful owners. France recently turned over three works that were seized and auctioned off in the 1930s. 

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CRIME

Danish neighbourhood watches keep Christmas burglaries in check

The number of burglaries reported in Denmark this Christmas remained at the historic lows seen in 2022, with the country's Crime Prevention Council giving credit to its neighbourhood watch app.

Danish neighbourhood watches keep Christmas burglaries in check

Just 660 burglaries were reported between December 19th 2023 and January 1st 2024, more or less level with the 559 recorded the previous year. 

This is a historically low level, with 1,343 burglaries reported over Christmas as recently as 2019, with the Nabohjælp app, a joint venture between the Crime Prevention Council and TrygFonden perhaps playing a role.  

“There are many indications that the Danes have become very good at helping their neighbors during the holidays and also tricking burglars into thinking that someone is home in the many houses that have been empty during the Christmas holidays,” Julie Kofoed, communications consultant for Nabohjælp, said in a press release. 

“Nabohjælp is about cooperation between neighbours, so that you make sure that each other’s homes are always kept an eye on.”

The app, which was launched by the Crime Prevention Council, together with the insurance company TrygFonden, has been downloaded by 270,000 people in Denmark, and its spin-off Nabovenner, or “neighbour friends”, numbers as many as 1,000 volunteers, who run networks of Nabohjælpere, or “neighbourhood helpers” in their areas. 

“Neighbor friends are enthusiasts who promote neighborly assistance where they live,” Kofoed said. “We are convinced that Neighbor Friends play a decisive role in getting the neighborhood helpers activated, around the whole of Denmark and especially in the areas plagued by burglaries.” 

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