ARCA award for ANCBS president

Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, ARCA Awardee 2012

ANCBS president Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen will be awarded the 2012 Art Protection and Security Award jointly with University of Amsterdam scholar Dr. Joris Kila. The award is presented annually by ARCA, the Association for Research into Crimes against Art. Last year’s award was presented to renowned British archaeologist Sir Colin Renfrew.

ARCA’s management board praised the efforts by Von Habsburg and Kila to protect cultural heritage in war zones. The two scholars have been working to convince governments and armed forces of the importance of protecting objects, monuments and works of art.

Von Habsburg made several visits to Libya in order to assess for himself how the recent conflict affected the country’s cultural heritage. He previously made similar visits to Egypt in the wake of the recent riots. All the visits were conducted with an international team.

ARCA is a non-profit organisation based in Italy that specialises in the investigation of art crimes. ARCA applies interdisciplinary research and analysis techniques in order to study the phenomenon of art crime. The organisation’s efforts are aimed at preventing art crimes and protecting cultural heritage. The award will be presented in June at the annual ARCAconference in Amelia, Italy.