Securing Pricelessness

DeliBoy writes "In light of public discussions over security after The Scream was stolen, CSO Online offers an interesting look at museum security. The article details a system designed without budget restrictions intended to secure a painting in a public gallery. Interesting how the consultant balances public access with the need for security, comprised of redundant vibration sensors, overlapping microwave and infrared motion sensors, and an old-fashioned guard. "

Comments

RFID Chips?

[e9th]

Why not embed them in each artwork? I bet there's a way to do it in most pieces without damaging them.

Sensors at the exits, guards in the parking lot, etc.

But the problem was

[dzym]

But I thought the problem was that the museum did NOT have an unlimited budget for security?

Not to mention that when you get guns pulled on you you generally try not to get shot. Even if it ends up costing you something priceless (which still ends up as being less precious than human life, no matter how fine the art).

Re:But the problem was

[Cecil]

really? you really think your more important to the world than say, the mona lisa or something like that?

Who isn't? Maybe that homeless guy on the street who calls me names. Other than that though, all people will over the course of their lives perform some action that will further the human race in some miniscule way. That is more than can be said about the Mona Lisa. It may inspire someone, perhaps, but there is little evidence that it would do so more than any other painting or piece of artwork.

There are some things worth dying for. A single piece of art isn't one of them. What if Picasso had died young while trying to save someone else's prized painting? It makes absolutely no sense to value a thing above a person. A person is what creates things.