Author plans Press Club Book Rap exploring museum secrets

The National Press Club’s Book & Author Committee plans to present a Book Rap on Monday, Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Rooms featuring Gary Vikan, who led Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum for nearly two decades. He will reveal the shocking truth behind the world’s great museums with his memoir Sacred and Stolen: Confessions of a Museum Director.

Tickets are $5 for Press Club members; $10 for the public. This event is a fundraiser for the nonprofit National Press Club Journalism Institute. Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here. Books can be purchased online at the same time as tickets or at the event. No outside books or memorabilia are permitted.

According to Vikan, many of the glittering treasures adorning museum walls are either stolen or forged. He has witnessed firsthand the hustle, the shady dealings, the bold-faced forgeries and outright thefts that have placed treasures in art museums -- only to have them once again disappear, either back to their rightful owners or stuffed into the attic as forgeries.

According to Newsweek, the Department of Justice and UNESCO report art crime as the world’s third highest-grossing illegal trade during the last 40 years, after drugs and weapons. In Sacred and Stolen, Vikan details his own experiences with this sordid world of illicit activity.

Vikan’s book follows his quest to bring a sense of wonder and deep feeling to the public through the dramatic presentation of art. It tells of his discovery that a famous group of Egyptian sculptures was forged, his efforts to save a chopped up medieval fresco from a Cypriot church, and how he once bribed an official government representative. His book explores the human need for beauty and spiritual enrichment that serves as the foundation of the world’s museums.

The Book Rap will include a presentation by Vikan, an audience question-and-answer session, and book signing.