THE MUSEUM ROBBERY
It was, Italian authorities said later, as if the thieves had a catalog and knew just
what they were after. Armed bandits bound and gagged six unarmed guards,
entered a storeroom containing artifacts from the Roman town of Herculaneum, and
stole about 280 objects - gold rings, bracelets, earrings, and precious stones. All had
been discovered during excavations of the seaside town, buried by the same
eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 that destroyed its larger and better-known
neighbor, Pompeii. Authorities said that the stolen items also included a small bronze
statue of Bacchus inlaid with copper and silver, a bronze vase, and a box of coins.
The total value of objects taken during the robbery was estimated at 1.6 million
dollars. Art historians and others criticized lax security that permitted two gunmen to
climb a wall, enter the site, and break through a flimsy partition to get into the room
where the artifacts were kept. Some of the critics also complained that the guards
were unarmed. Officials said it would be hard for anyone to sell the stolen objects
because all had been catalogued and photographed, and most had been exhibited
and published.
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