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Just to clear up some points here. Yes, Norway is a backwards country, and that's the way we like it! (It is true, we even call ourselves the "backwards country")
We have two art pieces that means a lot to us "The Angry Boy" (N: Sinnataggen) a statue by Vigeland found in the park named after him, and Scream. IIRC, The Angry Boy has been stolen twice and now Scream has also been stolen twice. However, the version stolen now was the one hanging at the Munch museum, and the one stolen in the nineties was the one hanging in the National gallery. There are four versions of Scream, the two mentioned and two more in private possession.
As far as Art's comments I see where he is coming from, but personally I am of the belief that "masterpieces" should not be destroyed, and that they are valuable to society as a whole. I don't care what art historians say, but works that trancend themselves and become "sacred" to a culture or a large group of people enriches our lives.
It does not matter whether these works are paintings, sculptures, buildings, monuments or something else. Scream is one of a few objects in the world that _anyone_, independent of nationality, language, culture or race can understand and feel. I believe that the masterpieces which have the same quality is the _only_ thing worth preserving, as they bring humanity a little bit closer to eachother.
I agree with Art, that many declared "masterpieces" are not, but the true judge of a masterpiece is not an art historian or a critic, but the whole human race. Should we also destroy the Pyramids, the Great Wall, the Vietnam Memorial, David, Notre Dame, the Night Watch, Taj Mahal, Mona Lisa, Hamlet, Big Ben, Aya Sophia, Ankor Wat, Teotihuacan and all the other great human accomplishments? These are "masterpieces" not because some historian has said so, historians call them masterpieces because nearly every human is breathtaken by them.
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