• Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Though if the idea that high value art is actually a money laundering/moving scheme is true, this might not be the case. The idea is that no one or few people actually want to spend millions on art but pretend they do as a front to spend millions on something else.

    They could probably save some money by reducing the “cover up pedophile priests” item in their budget.

    • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The collection of the Vatican doesn’t consist of weird modern art paintings but of historical important pieces. Private art collections of Roman emperors, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rodin, etc. Not some fake money laundering value because some Chinese tech CEO spent way too much money on it but true historic value backed by scientific research and historic manuscripts, which hold value on their own. Any museum would sell children’s organs to be able to get their hands on a single piece. I’ve been to the Vatican myself, I’ve seen one single wing of many, completely filled with the most impressive art pieces, stacked together like they don’t have enough room to store everything properly. The British museum is innocent compared to the amount of stolen priceless art pieces the Vatican has.

      And they they are on the brink of bankruptcy, because “people aren’t giving them enough money anymore”… “Because of the current pope”. I guess for the first time we have a pope doing something right.

      A corporation which thrives on one source of income alone: gifts. And now the infinite money stream is declining. What was it, Christians say when bad shit happens… Ah yes, I remember, “God works in mysterious ways”. Or translated for people who do not believe in imaginary friends and fairytales: shut up and deal with it.