“Kompetenznetzwerk Kulturgutschutz in Deutschland - NEXUD” launched to combat illegal trade in cultural property
In doing so, decisions can be made more quickly on the initiation of investigative proceedings or on the seizure of objects. NEXUD is being implemented by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Kulturstiftung der Länder, initially with a pilot phase spanning three years.
The illegal trade in cultural assets is a crime, according to Monika Grütters, Minister of State for Culture: “Combating it in day-to-day practice always raises highly complex, interdisciplinary questions for the investigating authorities. Their employees, therefore, need prompt, reliable answers from the scientific community in unclear cases.” NEXUD should also make it easier to implement the Cultural Property Protection Act.
According to Professor Markus Hilgert, Secretary General of the Kulturstiftung der Länder, the identification and classification of those objects concerned requires an extraordinarily broad knowledge from numerous disciplines: “In Germany, we are fortunate to have experts in almost all fields and can, therefore, draw on a wide range of resources. In the NEXUD network, scientists from all disciplines are available to prepare expert reports in standardized procedures.
For more information, visit www.kulturstiftung.de