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You could make an argument some artwork is relatively less protected than its value but that at best still only explains China (per the OP). Why not other countries?

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Formally-protected cultural heritage is disproportionately located in Europe compared to other continents, if anything because we effectively invented the practice. Italian, French, Greek, Egyptian museums store more artefacts than they can expose at any given time - we're talking 2x-3x.

Sure but those are located in storage, not on display and the thefts that have occurred that I’m aware of have been on pieces in display.

I guess - is your overall point that criminals only care about European art which is why it’s stolen?

Yes - the value that the world places on European art is disproportionately high, which makes it so much more worthwhile to target than the rest.

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