Art Crimes

Colombian Statue Heads Home After 80 Years

The slab figure disappeared from Colombia's National Musuem in 1939

The Next Rembrandt 2

Has the Incredible Accuracy of Art Reproduction Ruined the Way We Experience Masterpieces?

Precise digital replicas allow more people to own and view great works of art, minus their soul

Berlin's Reichstag

Germany Is Reworking the Commission That Handles Restitution for Nazi-Looted Art

A lackluster track record and controversial comments led to a shift

"The Brooding Woman," by Paul Gauguin, was one of the paintings stolen at gunpoint from the Worcester Art Museum in 1972.

The First Armed Art Heist in History Is Being Made Into a Movie

But <i>Ocean’s 11</i>, this isn’t

One of the destroyed handprints.

Vandals Destroyed 8,000-Year-Old Aboriginal Artworks in Tasmania

The priceless rock art is damaged beyond repair

Egyptian Museum Employees Face Fines for Botched Repair on King Tut's Mask

An accident knocked the beard off the boy king's distinctive mask, prompting a hasty repair

Henri Matisse's "Woman Sitting in an Armchair," is one of the paintings stolen by Nazis that will be returned to its rightful owner.

Only Five Works From the Gurlitt Art Nest Have Been Confirmed As Art Stolen By Nazis

A task force took two years and nearly $2 million to investigate more than 1,200 pieces found in a Munich apartment

A portrait of Abraham Lincoln in 1861 shows how the man would not have been amused by this theft.

A Sculpture of Abraham Lincoln’s Hand Has Been Stolen From an Illinois Museum

The 150-year-old plaster art piece went missing sometime before December 11

Johannes Vermeer's "The Concert" was one of the most valuable paintings stolen from the Gardener Museum

Could This Video Solve One of History's Greatest Art Mysteries?

Footage shows an unknown man entering the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum the night before the infamous robbery

To discourage the harmful trade that is having a catastrophic effect on elephant populations, nearly one ton of illegal ivory was crushed Friday, June 19, 2015, in Times Square.

Where Do Important Ivory Artifacts Fit in the Race to Save Elephants from Poaching?

The fight against poaching and trafficking came to a head in Times Square last week with the destruction of a one-ton cache of illegal ivory

Afghan men stand near the ruins of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan.

Destroyed Buddha Statues Are Coming Back to Life in Afghanistan as Beautiful 3D Projections

3D light projections recreate a pair of statues destroyed by the Taliban

People look at ancient Assyrian human-headed winged bull statues at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad March 8, 2015.

Museums Issue Most-Threatened List of Iraqi Treasures

Seven types of cultural objects are under threat from the Islamic State and instability in Iraq

A visitor to MoMA views Jackson Pollock's painting "One (Number 31, 1950)"

A Computer Can Tell Real Jackson Pollocks From Fakes

Genuine Pollacks really are distinguishable from random splatters of paint—there's now software to prove it

Someone Walked Off With a Picasso From a Miami Beach Art Festival

An $85,000 silver plate went missing late last week

These artifacts were stolen from the Egyptian Museum in 2011 and were recovered this April. but many looted artifacts leave the country, never to return.

In Egypt, Antiquities Looters Use Bulldozers

Three years after the revolution, technology and diplomacy are being used to combat looters

Petroglyphs in Utah

Prehistoric Rock Art Defaced in Utah

Visitors to Nine Mile Canyon decided to leave more than footprints at the longest art gallery in the world

President James A. Garfield

Spoons Stolen from President Garfield's Tomb

Something's rotten in Cleveland

The stolen diamond looked nothing like these

This May Have Been the Worst Diamond Heist in History

An Albuquerque museum was robbed of a diamond that was returned the next day

On Oct. 30, 1964, a policeman dusts for fingerprints on case broken into by a cat burglar who made off with some $200,000 in jewels from the Museum of Natural History.

How Three Amateur Jewel Thieves Made Off With New York’s Most Precious Gems

The fascinating story of the hunt for Murf the Surf, a criminal who wasn’t quite the mastermind he made himself out to be

This past March, the J. Paul Getty Museum repatriated the 2,400-year-old statue—the most recent of more than 40 objects at the museum that Italy said had been illegally removed.

The Goddess Goes Home

Following years of haggling over its provenance, a celebrated statue once identified as Aphrodite, has returned to Italy

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