The first section is devoted to thefts from archeological sites in third world countries or countries in political turmoil such as Kenya, Mali, Poland, and Croatia. In these and other countries, art works and artifacts representing a country's cultural heritage have been dug up or stolen from their original sites and sold to Western art collectors. In the second section, two articles describe efforts to preserve a nation's cultural heritage such as those undertaken by the Catholic Church and by the National Museum of Versailles Palace in France. The third section shows describes police attempts to combat the international network of art thefts. Detailed articles describe art thefts and police responses in Italy, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the United States, and France. International cooperation is fostered through common police training efforts and information sharing projects such as the Interpol Ottawa data base. The final section describes international agencies which foster cooperation in the fight against art theft: Unidroit's attempts to return stolen art to the country of origin, Unesco and the Convention of 1970, the European Community, and Interpol.