Major Cuba Art Theft Confirmed

HAVANA TIMES — The report of a major theft of valuable Cuban art from the island’s Fine Arts Museum was confirmed on Friday by the authorities, reports Cafe Fuerte.

The National Council of Cultural Heritage issued a statement on the theft, although it did not list the pieces or mention the quantity of the works stolen.

The following is the note from the council:

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

Last week an important number of missing pieces from the storage area of the Antonio Rodríguez Morey building of the National Museum of Fine Arts was detected.

Access to the site had not been violated making it impossible to known exactly when the theft that took place since the criminals cut frames neatly repositioning works so that the eye could not detect theft.

Most of the works stolen were Cuban Art from the period known as the change of century (between academia and vanguard) and especially pieces by Leopoldo Romañach.

The competent authorities within and outside the country have a complete list of the works stolen with their technical specifications and photos, in order to alert museums, galleries, auction houses and others, of the existence of these works stolen from an official institution, that could be at the mercy of illicit national and international trafficking.

Any information obtained on these works could lead to their recovery and will be most useful to the investigation being carried out in order to clarify the facts.

For more information contact:
National Registry of Cultural Assets:  [email protected]
Phones: (537) 832-0058 / 535 2853-610

National Council of Cultural Heritage
Havana, Cuba