The protection of cultural objects through international law has developed significantly in the last couple of decades. Protection in the event of armed conflict was the subject matter of a convention in 1954; in 1970, measures were taken aimed at controlling the movement of recognized art treasures and other cultural property and, in recent years, efforts have been made to ensure the protection of immovable works of art in peace time. The latter works are threatened not only by age and cataclysms, through ignorance and vandalism of men but also, and increasingly, through the occupation of space required for the progress of civilization, such as the extension of residential zones, agriculture, industry, and the infrastructure for transport, and, generally by the devastating results of modern life manifested through industry and transportation. Even when protected these objects may suffer from old age and the fact that they have been turned into dead musea.