Art crime and preventive measures for museums, churches and sacred objectsKuhar, Saša (Avtor) Purpose:The purpose of the paper is to present art crime and preventive measures that reduce crime involving art in museums, churches and sacred objects.Methods:Art crime and preventive measures are analysed by applying a descriptive method and literature review. Statistical data are considered to present the scale of art crime in Europe.Findings:Art crime has been present in society for millennia. Statistics show art thefts from private buildings, galleries, churches and sacred objects prevail. Thefts from museums attract the greatest media attention. The perpetrators are usually unaware of the value of the stolen art. The biggest difficulty is the hidden nature of crime involving art because many cases go unreported, especially when occurring in museums. The reason is that it affects the reputation of museums. In particular, they do not the public to know they have weak preventive measures. Safeguarding art works in museums and churches as well as sacred objects is a very demanding and responsible task. Artworks need to be kept simultaneously safe and accessible to visitors. A combination of security measures is essential; physical and technical protection as well as forensic marking. In the future, greater attention should be paid to raising public awareness of the value of artworks for society.Originality/Value:The paper describes the preventive measures that should be applied to reduce and prevent art crime in museums and churches and concerning sacred objects. The owners of museums, security services and archival institutions can use the proposed measures to minimise such art crime.20182020-04-16 08:00:05Znanstveno delo76096sl