Europe's museums selling off masterpieces

Münster, Germany

THE director of the art museum here dreads the idea of losing some of his town's biggest cultural attractions. He worries about a Henry Moore sculpture that has been on exhibition for almost 40 years, knowing it could vanish along with Renaissance panels and Eduardo Chillida benches in a sale to settle government debts.

"There's an expression in German: 'Don't sell your family silver'," said the director, Hermann Arnhold of the Westphalian State Museum for Art and Cultural History. "Would you sell the story of your family? If you sell important art works, that means selling a part of your history."

Yet, what once seemed unthinkable is suddenly palatable in Europe: The continent's art treasures more an…