Art Crimes

A Louvre curator purchased the looted artwork during a 1942 auction.

Art Historian Identifies Ten Nazi-Looted Paintings in the Louvre's Collections

Emmanuelle Polack made the discovery less than one month after she was brought on board to study the museum's ill-gotten artwork

A sculpture of two bulls, originally carved in the second century A.D., looted from Afghanistan's Kabul Museum almost 30 years ago

After 30 Years, Looted Kushan Bull Sculpture Will Return to Afghanistan's Kabul Museum

The artifact is one of thousands left destroyed, damaged or missing after civil war broke out in the 1990s

After months of careful negotiations, the mayor of Gotha was able to secure the return of the long-missing paintings.

Five Old Master Paintings Recovered 40 Years After German Heist

Authorities suspect the artworks were smuggled into West Germany during the 1980s

The work vanished in February 1997, shortly after it was authenticated as a genuine Gustav Klimt portrait.

Painting Found Inside Walls of Italian Gallery Authenticated as Stolen Klimt

"Portrait of a Lady" went missing from the Ricci Oddi Modern Art Gallery in February 1997

This 404-year-old Geneva Bible was one of more than 300 artifacts stolen from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library over a two-decade period.

Ex-Librarian and Bookseller Plead Guilty to Stealing Rare Texts Worth $8 Million From Pennsylvania Library

Greg Priore and John Schulman stole and resold hundreds of rare texts over a 25-year period

Hernán Cortés had Aztec treasures melted into gold bars for easier transport back to Europe.

Spanish Conquistadors Stole This Gold Bar From Aztec Emperor Moctezuma's Trove

Forces led by Hernán Cortés dropped the looted treasure during a hasty retreat from the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in June 1520

The Elgin cast, seen on right, reveals sculptural details lost today.

3-D Imaging Reveals Toll of Parthenon Marbles' Deterioration

A new study of 19th-century plaster casts of the controversial sculptures highlight details lost over the past 200 years

Among the items stolen from Berlin's Stasi Museum are a pair of earrings, a ring laden with pearls and gems, a gold watch, and a gold timepiece.

Days After the Brazen Green Vault Heist, Another German Museum Is Targeted by Thieves

Burglars stole jewelry and historic artifacts from the Stasi Museum in Berlin

Michelangelo was dissatisfied with his work and actually attempted to destroy the sculpture.

Visitors Can Watch the Restoration of Michelangelo's 'Bandini Pietà'

The artist once took a sledgehammer to the sculpture, which is now housed at a museum in Florence

Police from five different countries collaborated to recover the stolen artifacts.

Authorities Recover 10,000 Artifacts Stolen by International Antiquities Trafficking Ring

The organized crime group had connections across Italy, Britain, Germany, France and Serbia

A golden ring once given as a present by the famed Irish writer Oscar Wilde has been recovered by a Dutch "art detective" nearly 20 years after it was stolen from Britain's Oxford University.

Art Detective Tracks Down Oscar Wilde's Stolen Friendship Ring

Authorities previously believed the ring, taken from Oxford in 2002, was melted down by an individual unaware of its true significance

An unknown thief stole the historic rifle in a brazen 1971 heist.

Revolutionary War Rifle Stolen 50 Years Ago Recovered at Barn Sale

The long rifle, made by master gunsmith Johann Christian Oerter, will go on view at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia

Patriots toppled the statue in July 1776, but British Loyalists rescued and hid some of the fragments

You Could Own an Amputated Arm From the George III Statue Toppled at Bowling Green

The 18th-century lead fragment was unearthed in a Connecticut resident's garden in 1991

Lord Elgin is a controversial figure accused by many—including the Greek government—of looting valuable artifacts from the city of Athens

Newly Discovered Treasures Came From the Same Sunken Ship That Carried the Controversial 'Elgin Marbles'

The "Mentor," a vessel owned by the notorious Lord Elgin, sank in 1802 while carrying panels and sculptures looted from the Parthenon

Picture taken at the unveiling of the Totem Pole in May 2017.

Thieves Return Hand Stolen From Montreal Totem Pole, With an Apology Note

'After we realized what [the artwork] stood for and represented for so many people, we immediately felt sick to our stomach,' the letter reads

Help Find the Owners of More Than 100 Recovered Artworks

Stolen around Los Angeles in 1993, the paintings and antiques were recently recovered by LAPD when some were brought to an auction house

Exterior view of the Führerbau photographed in September, 1938.

Investigation Identifies Nazi-Looted Art Later Ransacked From Hitler’s Headquarters

Near the end of WWII, Munich civilians plundered food, liquor, furnishings and some 700 works of art, most of which wer stolen property, from the Führerbau

The perpetrator rips pages in half horizontally

A Literary Vandal Is Ripping Pages Out of Books and Putting Them Back on Shelves

The so-called 'book ripper' has targeted more than 100 volumes at a library and charity bookshop in the English town of Herne Bay

The nine sculpted heads were recovered at Heathrow Airport in 2002

Hundreds of Artifacts Looted From Iraq and Afghanistan to Be Repatriated

The trove, currently stored at the British Museum for safekeeping, includes 4th-century Buddhist sculpture fragments and 154 Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets

Researchers extracted paint and canvas fiber samples from a known forgery supposedly dating to 1886 but actually created during the 1980s.

Cold War Nuclear Bomb Tests Are Helping Researchers Identify Art Forgeries

Traces of carbon-14 isotopes released by nuclear testing enable scientists to date paintings created post-World War II

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