On a bright August Sunday in 2004, two men walked in with guns and came out minutes later with Edvard Munch’s famous artworks; “The Scream” and “Madonna”. Following the robbery, DNV conducted a high-profile security analysis of the Munch museum in Oslo, Norway, focussing on the highest risks to the priceless artworks.

The DNV security analysis on the Munch museum focused on fire, burglary and robbery. The analysis of the museum building was done during a period of 8 weeks. Four to five employees were involved, and they worked in a multi-disciplinary team to complete the security analysis. According to the analysis, the Munch robbery confirms that a new and higher threat level is facing the Norwegian art treasures.

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, DNV’s project manager.

She adds: “At the time of the robbery, there were hardly any barriers to overcome in the museum.”

Improved security
To reduce the risk of fire, burglary and robbery, DNV’s recommended the following. However, only some of the recommendations have been made public, as the report is strictly confidential in order not to reveal the totality of the Munch museum’s security measures.

• 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 artworks with glass and bolt all pieces onto the walls
• Upgrade burglary protection
• Further fire sectioning of the rooms where the art works are stored.

The museum did improve its security based on DNV’s recommendations. In May 2005 it opened its doors again, following extensive work over a period of 9 months costing close to 45 million NOK. The two paintings were finally recovered in September 2006. They are still not in a condition to be displayed, but the 1100 other Munch artworks can now be seen in the much more secure Munch museum in Oslo, Norway.

It was the first armed art robbery in Norway
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 had taken place in Norway.

On the heels 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.

Fact box about the Munch art:

• Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is one of the world’s most famous painters
• The Munch Museum has 24,000 artworks by Edvard Munch, which includes 1,100 paintings, and 15,500 graphical works
• "The Scream" is said to be one of the most famous paintings in the world and was painted by Edvard Munch in 1893
• Madonna was painted by Edvard Munch in 1893-94
• Munch painted several versions of both “The Scream” and “Madonna”
• The stolen paintings have an estimated value of NOK 650 million
• Munch bequeathed the pieces he owned to the Municipality of Oslo, Norway
• The Munch Museum opened in 1963, 100 years after Munch’s birth
• An extension of the museum was opened in 1994
• The pictures are not saleable, but a rough estimate of the collection’s value comes to NOK 20-40 billion.