Museums are gateways to the past, giving the public a chance to enjoy artworks and antiques with cultural and historical significance. Since it’s impossible to go back in time and recreate the treasures from that period, these items become priceless. That is until robbers get their hands on them.
The movies How to Steal a Million and The Thomas Crown Affair make museum heists seem incredibly sexy and thrilling. Their real-life counterparts are sometimes just as thrilling, and some have remained a complete mystery. When they exit a museum, these antique pieces become worth hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of dollars. No wonder museums are popular targets of thievery.
Here is a list of the 10 museum heists that have yet to be solved.
10. 13 Artworks, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1990
When police officers rove a museum, people expect they are there to keep the precious art safe. But the two policemen who visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on March 18, 1990, walked out with 13 pieces of art. The loot was believed to be worth half a billion dollars. It’s been 32 years since the theft, but the thieves disguised as cops remain unidentified, and the art remains lost.
