Icom Germany has released a statement in response to the recent protests by climate activists targeting famous artworks in international museums.
Icom’s statement, co-signed by 92 museum leaders, says the climate activists responsible for the attacks “severely underestimate the fragility of these irreplaceable objects, which must be preserved as part of our world cultural heritage”.
“As museum directors entrusted with the care of these works, we have been deeply shaken by their risky endangerment,” it adds.
The letter has been signed by leaders including Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, Martine Gosselink, general director of the Mauritshuis, and Miguel Falomir, director of the Prado.
“We have been deeply shaken”
It is also signed by Laurence des Cars, president of the Louvre, Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum, and Richard Armstrong, director of the Guggenheim.
In addition, signatories include Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, Christophe Leribault, president of the Musée d’Orsay, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Max Hollein and Daniel Weiss.
“Museums are places where people from a wide variety of backgrounds can engage in dialogue and which therefore enable social discourse,” the statement says.
“In this sense, the core tasks of the museum as an institution – collecting, researching, sharing and preserving – are now more relevant than ever.”
“We will continue to advocate for direct access to our cultural heritage,” it adds. “And we will maintain the museum as a free space for social communication.”
The letter comes after climate activists glued their hands to two paintings by Francisco Goya in Madrid’s Prado Museum. Last month, tomato soup was thrown on Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ at London’s National Gallery.
Protestors have also thrown pea soup over Van Gogh’s ‘The Sower’ in Rome, and activists tried to glue themselves to Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ at the Mauritshuis.
Images: Mauritshuis / Louvre
