In light of the dramatic armed robbery of Edvard Munch’s famous artworks, “The Scream” and “Madonna”, in August, DNV has conducted a high-profile security analysis of the Munch museum in Oslo. The museum will now improve its security based on the DNV recommendations.
The DNV security analysis on the Munch museum focused on fire, burglary and robbery. The report is strictly confidential in order not to reveal the Munch museum’s security measures. Therefore only some of the recommendations have been made public.
On the heals of the Munch museum analysis, DNV and the municipality of Oslo have agreed on a similar security analysis of two other renowned museums in Oslo; the Stenersen museum and the Vigeland museum.
Fire, burglary and robbery
According to the analysis, the Munch robbery confirms that a new and higher threat level is facing art treasures in Norway.
DNV’s recommendations are:
- Install a lockable gate for the general public at some distance from the entrance door and establish a labyrinth in front of the gate
- Install metal detectors
- Protect the valuable icons with glass and bolt all pieces onto the walls
- Upgrade burglary protection
- Further fire sectioning of the rooms where the art works are stored
Time delay is main objective
“Armed robbery is a very dangerous and serious situation to both guards and visitors in a museum. That is why sufficient time barriers are so vital in a security system. The only possible action towards armed robbers is to create enough time delay so that the police can get there in time,” says Monica Solem, project manager in DNV Consulting.
She adds: “At the time of the robbery, there were hardly any barriers to overcome in the museum.”
No cost estimates from DNV
DNV’s report does not contain any cost analysis of the security measures necessary to make the building comply with fire instructions and a defined level of security in accordance with the recommendations stated in the report.
However, present estimates of the recommended immediate actions made by the museum’s owner are reaching a level of NOK 20-50 million. Further actions will bring the estimates considerable higher. The museum will not open until next summer in order to implement the immediate recommendations listed in the report
Armed robbers
It was in brazen daylight, on an ordinary Sunday in late August, that two armed robbers took only a few minutes to steal two of the world’s most famous and valuable art treasures, “The Scream” and “Madonna”, from the Munch museum in Oslo.
This was the first time ever an armed art robbery has taken place in Norway. In this context, DNV has performed an analysis of the museum building. Four to five employees have been working for 8 weeks in a multi-disciplinary team to complete the security analysis.