Thieves exploit chaos to steal heritage

More than 30,000 books, including 1000 rare and priceless items, are believed to have been stolen from the French national library in Paris.

The library's cataloguing and security systems are so chaotic it is impossible to know when the books were stolen.

Some may have been "lost" in an institution that houses 35 million objects.

But a year-long investigation by the president of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France found the library had been systematically pillaged over many years.

A former senior curator is to appear before an investigating magistrate today accused of stealing at least 100 rare old books and manuscripts. Michel Garel, an internationally known expert on Hebrew texts, initially admitted stealing a 13th-century French copy of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament).

The document - known only as "Manuscript 52" - was sold to a British collector for 80,000 ($138,000) five years ago. It was quickly recognised when offered for sale by Christie's in New York.

Garel told Le Figaro newspaper that he had confessed under duress. He denied stealing anything and accused library administrators of making him a "scapegoat".

Garel said he had warned his bosses that rare items were going missing. The basement of the library's old building was connected by a labyrinth of underground passageways to nearby antiquarian bookshops.

An audit of the library's stocks suggests that at least 30,000 books or manuscripts are missing. Many relatively valueless copies of 19th and 20th century works of literature or history. But 1183 priceless books or documents from the library's "precious core" cannot be traced. More than 200 of these are medieval manuscripts or books from the dawn of the age of printing.

- INDEPENDENT