Mona Lisa to Crown Jewels: 2025 Louvre Heist Shocks World
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The Day the Mona Lisa Vanished: How a Bold Heist Made History In 1911, the Mona Lisa secretly "traveled" to her homeland of Italy—though not of her own accord. On August 21, 1911, an audacious theft at Paris' Louvre Museum created a sensation that would ultimately transform Leonardo da Vinci's portrait into the world's most famous painting. The Discovery French painter Louis Béroud made the startling discovery on August 22, 1911, when he arrived at the Louvre intending to sketch his painting "Mona Lisa au Louvre". Instead of finding da Vinci's masterpiece hanging in its usual spot in the Salon Carré, Béroud saw only four iron pegs where the painting should have been. He immediately contacted the museum's head of security, who initially assumed the painting had been removed for photography—a routine occurrence at the time. Hours later, when Béroud checked back, officials confirmed their worst fears: the Mona Lisa had been stolen. The Investigat...