Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The gallery was founded in 1903 by philanthropist Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924), who, with the assistance of Bernard Berenson, collected 2500 pieces of European art, including such masterpieces as Titian’s “Abduction of Europe” and the “Altar of the Column Family” by Raphael.nOn March 18, 1990, robbers dressed in police uniforms entered the museum. By neutralizing the two guards, they carried with them thirteen exhibits, including Vermeer’s “Concert”, three Rembrandt canvases (including his only seascape), as well as paintings by Manet, Degas, and Howart Flink. Leaving the museum, the criminals erased the recordings of video cameras so that they could not be identified. It was the largest museum robbery in US history.nIn the case of the Gardner Museum robbery, the best FBI employees were engaged. Many versions were worked out on the theft of paintings, including “conspiracy theories” about the involvement in the robbery of secret agents of the Vatican, militants from the Irish Republican Army, sheikhs from the Middle East, billionaires from America or Colombian drug barons.nThe FBI was looking for pictures not only in America, but also abroad. However, in a quarter of a century, neither the kidnappers nor the stolen items were ever found. On the site of the stolen paintings in the museum, empty frames still hang.n