Crime

Thieves targeted a $2 million, 18-carat gold tabernacle in a Catholic church this week. 

Thieves Took a $2-Million Tabernacle From a Brooklyn Church

Sacred objects can tempt would-be burglars

Millions of visitors visit the Mona Lisa at the Louvre each year.

Disguised Protester Smears Cake on High-Tech Glass Protecting the 'Mona Lisa'

It’s the latest in a long string of attempts to vandalize the world’s most famous painting

This Roman copy of a Greek bronze depicts an idealized male figure. 

This Ancient Roman Statue Embodies the 'Perfect' Man. But Was It Stolen?

Italy wants a Roman replica of "Doryphoros" in the Minneapolis Institute of Art returned

The Carabinieri Police Cultural Heritage Protection Unit returned the painting to the government in a May 19 ceremony.  

Italian Art Police Recovered a Long-Lost Titian. But Is It Really the Renaissance Master's Work?

The recently confiscated painting is worth an estimated $7 million

This statue was looted from the Koh Ker temple complex in Cambodia in the 1970s.

Cambodia Asks U.K. Cultural Institutions to Return Looted Statues

British museums contain hundreds of allegedly stolen temple treasures

Employees at an Oklahoma recycling center found several pieces of a stolen bronze sculpture depicting ballerina Marjorie Tallchief.

Thieves Stole, Hacked Up and Sold Sculpture That Honored Famed Native American Ballerina

The culprits sawed the life-sized bronze tribute to Marjorie Tallchief into pieces

Federal prosecutors have charged three men in connection with a large art and sports memorabilia fraud scheme. 

How Fraudsters Allegedly Fooled the Art World in 15-Year Scheme

Federal prosecutors say scammers sold fraudulent paintings and memorabilia to collectors and auction houses

If Thornton Jenkins Hains ever spoke about the Titanic or his short-lived fame in the aftermath of the disaster, those thoughts are now lost to history.

Twice Accused of Murder, This Writer Later Foresaw the Sinking of the Titanic

Under the pseudonym Mayn Clew Garnett, author Thornton Jenkins Hains published a maritime disaster story with eerie parallels to the real-life tragedy

Officials found thousands of taxidermy animals in a warehouse outside of Valencia, including specimens of cheetah, leopard, lion, lynx, polar bear, snow leopard and white rhinoceros.

Police Find 1,090 Taxidermy Animals in a Private Collection in Spain

The animals include about 400 protected species

A page from Darwin's 1837 notebook showing the Tree of Life sketch.

Stolen Charles Darwin Notebooks Returned After 22 Years

One of the items contains the renowned naturalist's first sketch of the Tree of Life

Kate Warne was the Pinkerton National Detective Agency's first woman operative. She died in 1868 at age 34 or 35.

How Kate Warne, America's First Woman Detective, Foiled a Plot to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln

In February 1861, the Pinkerton agent, posing as the disguised president-elect's sister and caregiver, safely escorted him to Baltimore

The Godfather was named Best Motion Picture–Drama in the 1973 Golden Globe Awards and Best Picture in the Academy Awards.

Studio Executives Did Not Want Marlon Brando for the Title Role in 'The Godfather'

On the film's 50th anniversary, a Smithsonian historian reflects on the cultural phenomenon of the blockbuster hit

On March 15, the Senate unanimously passed legislation calling for year-round daylight saving time.

What Happened the Last Time the U.S. Tried to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent?

A 1974 switch to year-round DST proved unpopular, with Americans expressing "distaste" for the long, dark winter mornings

The bowls were probably created in what is now Iraq between the fourth and eighth centuries C.E.

1,500-Year-Old 'Magic Bowls' Seized in Jerusalem Raid

Ancient Mesopotamians used the vessels, which were inscribed with incantations, to ward off demons, disease and other misfortune

Empty frames at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum are a tangible reminder of the 1990 theft. 

A Tantalizing Clue Emerges in the Unsolved Gardner Museum Art Heist

Boston police officers tell local media that the 1991 murder of Jimmy Marks might be linked to modern history's biggest art heist

Africa was home to an estimated 5 million elephants a century ago, but today there are just 415,000 individuals left.

Elephant Tusk DNA Exposes Illegal Poaching Networks

The new study suggests a shift in major smuggling routes

This 14th-century religious carving of a water spirit was part of a window decoration in a Kathmandu monastery.

Rubin Museum Agrees to Return Stolen Religious Artifacts to Nepal

An investigation launched by the New York cultural institution concluded that the 14th- and 17th-century carvings were "unlawfully obtained"

The Moores' younger daughter, Evangeline, donated this locket and other personal artifacts to the Smithsonian in 2013.

This Locket Memorializes a Black Activist Couple Murdered in a Christmas 1951 Bombing

Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore attracted the KKK's ire for their tireless promotion of civil rights in the Jim Crow South

Found among Steinhardt's stolen artifacts was the Larnax, a small chest that was used to store human remains. Dated to between 1200 and 1400 B.C.E., the chest originated on the island of Crete.

New York Antiquities Collector Returns 180 Stolen Artifacts Worth $70 Million

A deal made with the Manhattan district attorney bars billionaire Michael Steinhardt from purchasing ancient objects for the rest of his life

A high-necked polychrome pot, created sometime between 1100 and 1400 B.C.E., was among the more than 900 items returned to Mali.

The U.S. Returns More Than 900 Stolen Artifacts to Mali

American authorities seized the presumably looted objects, which were listed as replicas, in 2009

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