2011 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts theft

The 1972 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts robbery, sometimes called the Skylight Caper, took place very early in the morning of September 4 of that year. Three armed robbers used a skylight under repair to gain entry to the museum from its roof, tied up the three guards on duty, and left on foot with 18 paintings, including a rare Rembrandt landscape and works by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Corot, Delacroix, Rubens, and Thomas Gainsborough, as well as some figurines and jewellery. One of the Brueghels was returned by the thieves as an initiative to start ransom negotiations. None of the other paintings has ever been recovered and the robbers have never been arrested or even publicly identified, although there is at least one informal suspect. Collectively, the missing paintings have been valued at $11.7 million in 2017 dollars; although their value may have diminished since the theft as scholars have called the attribution of some of the works into question. However, the Rembrandt alone has been valued at $1 million; in 2003 The Globe and Mail estimated it to have appreciated in value to $20 million. The thieves appeared to know what works they were looking for; many of the works had been part of Masterpieces from Montreal, a travelling exhibition that had been to many museums in the U.S. and Canada prior to Expo 67, as well as some other special exhibits put on by the museum in the preceding years. It is not only the largest art theft in Canada but the largest theft in Canadian history.Investigation of the crime proved difficult in the early going, since it occurred over the Labour Day holiday weekend, when many of the museum's officials including its director were vacationing far away from Montreal. It was further complicated by continuing news coverage of the Blue Bird Café fire, Montreal's deadliest arson, three days earlier, dominating the headlines; the next day the killings of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the Olympics in Munich further diminished media coverage. A sting operation conceived after the thieves returned the Brueghel (later reattributed to his students) and mailed photos of the other works to the museum seeking a ransom payment went awry; a later attempt to negotiate their return cost the museum $10,000 with no results. The thieves took advantage of weakened security, resulting from the renovations at the museum, which had left the skylight's alarm disabled. The renovations and the security flaws were themselves a consequence of the museum's tightening finances, which had worsened during the 1960s as many of the wealthy Anglophone community in Montreal that had supported the museum since its founding in 1860 began to leave for Toronto due to increasing concerns over Quebec separatism, especially after terrorist acts by the Front de libération du Québec had led to martial law in the Montreal area two years earlier. Sûreté du Québec, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Interpol continue to investigate the crime. Theories as to who might be responsible have ranged from the Montreal Mafia to Quebec separatists.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; French: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street. The MMFA is spread across five pavilions, and occupies a total floor area of 53,095 square metres (571,510 sq ft), 13,000 (140,000 sq ft) of which are exhibition space. With the 2016 inauguration of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace, the museum campus was expected to become the eighteenth largest art museum in North America. The permanent collection included approximately 44,000 works in 2013. The original "reading room" of the Art Association of Montreal was the precursor of the museum's current library, the oldest art library in Canada.The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is a member of the International Group of Organizers of Large-scale Exhibitions, also known as the Bizot Group, a forum which allows the leaders of the largest museums in the world to exchange works and exhibitions. Founded in 1860, it is the oldest art museum in Canada. In 2020, it was the most visited art museum in Canada.

The Church of Saint Andrew and St Paul is a Presbyterian church in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 3415 Redpath Street, on the corner of Sherbrooke Street (Route 138). It is in close proximity to the Golden Square Mile, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Concordia University (Sir George Williams Campus) as well as the Guy-Concordia Metro station. It is the regimental church of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada. This congregation is the 1918 merger of two congregations, both formed in the early years of the nineteenth century.

Alan Klinkhoff Gallery is a Canadian fine art corporation located in Montreal and Toronto. A member of the Art Dealers Association of Canada, the firm provides acquisition and evaluation services for collectors, as well as exhibitions and sales of Canadian art by such artists as Paul-Émile Borduas, Emily Carr, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Jean Paul Lemieux, David Milne, Robert Pilot, and Marc-Aurèle Suzor-Côté. Alan Klinkhoff, a frequent commenter on Canadian art and art market, is quoted in the Montreal Gazette, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Financial Post, The New York Times, and on CBC Television. The gallery, a successor to Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, is known for museum-quality, non-sale exhibitions of important Canadian painters.

Le Château Apartments is an apartment building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1321 Sherbrooke Street West in the Golden Square Mile neighbourhood of Downtown Montreal.The building was commissioned by Pamphile Réal Du Tremblay the owner of La Presse newspaper at the time. It was constructed between February 1925 and 1926, and was designed by Montreal architecture firm Ross and Macdonald. Its facade is Tyndall limestone from Manitoba and its structural material is steel. It ranges from 12 to 14 stories tall. There are 136 apartments.The building is home to many famous residents, including at one time author Mordecai Richler for more than 20 years.

The Concordia University massacre was a school shooting on August 24, 1992 in which Valery I. Fabrikant, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, killed four colleagues and wounded a staff member at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

The Henry F. Hall Building (French: Édifice Henry F. Hall) is a building on the Sir George Williams Campus of Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1455 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West, in between Mackay Street and Bishop Street in the Quartier Concordia neighbourhood.

Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974.

The Concordia University Netanyahu riot occurred on September 9, 2002 on the Sir George Williams Campus of Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, when student rioters opposed a visit from the then former (and later subsequent) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The visit, to be held at noon at the Henry F. Hall Building, was canceled after pro-Palestinian students and Netanyahu supporters violently clashed.Jewish student organization Hillel had invited Netanyahu to speak on campus. Several hundred demonstrators blocked attendees of the event from entering the building.The attendees were escorted to the auditorium where the lecture was to take place, and later said the rioters had subjected them to antisemitic slogans and assault. Thomas Hecht, a Holocaust survivor, was kicked in the groin by protesters and Rabbi Howard Joseph and his wife Norma were assaulted and spat on. Protestors broke into the building through a side door but were blocked on the escalators by police and began hurling furniture from the mezzanine to the lobby. The police responded by firing pepper spray, which caused the Hall building to be evacuated and classes canceled for the remainder of the day.Around 1 p.m., a large window was shattered by rioters. At approximately the same time, a second window on the building's first floor, on the western side was broken when rioters threw a metal barricade. Five demonstrators were arrested, including VP of the student council Aaron Maté, and an additional twelve faced internal disciplinary hearings under the University's Code of Rights and Responsibilities.Netanyahu was not present at the protest, having remained at Montreal's Ritz-Carlton Hotel throughout the duration. He later accused the activists of supporting terrorism and "mad zealotry." "They're supporting Saddam Hussein, they're supporting [Yasser] Arafat, they're supporting [Osama] Bin Laden," he added.In the wake of the riot, the university instituted additional measures to avert future incidents, including the banning of any events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict for one month, as well as enabling the use of new student disciplinary rules in case of emergency.The National Film Board of Canada documentary Discordia, produced by Adam Symansky, documents the fallout from the riot by following three young Concordia campus activists. In 2003 GlobalTV also aired the documentary Confrontation at Concordia, produced by Martin Himel. Raymond Beauchemin, a 1992 Concordia University graduate (MA, English), wrote a novel, These Days Are Nights, inspired by the events of the protest.

Linton Apartments (also known as Le Linton) is an apartment building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1509 Sherbrooke Street West in the Golden Square Mile neighbourhood of Montreal. Le Linton was designed by Samuel Arnold Finley and David Jerome Spence. Its construction began in 1907 and the building was completed in 1908. It has 10 floors and is 31.63 metres tall. The building is considered to be of beaux-arts architecture. Its facade is made of terracotta and the ornamentation is made of baked clay.

Concordia University Library is the library system at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Concordia University has three library locations. The R. Howard Webster Library is located in the J.W. McConnell Building on the Sir George Williams Campus and the Georges P. Vanier Library is located on the Loyola Campus. On September 2, 2014, the Library opened the Grey Nuns Reading Room, a silent study space for Concordia students located in the former Chapel of the Invention of the Holy Cross. The Reading Room has seating for 192 students, with an additional 42 chairs in small reading rooms. A Political Science student was the first to enter.The Concordia University Library houses several special collections including the Azrieli Holocaust Collection and the Irving Layton Collection. Most Special Collections are located in the Vanier Library. The Library also maintains the university's institutional repository, Spectrum.The Concordia University Library is a member of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Concordia University Library also has partnerships with the Canadian Research Knowledge Network and The Data Liberation Initiative.Since 1990, Concordia University Library has been hosting an annual public holiday auction, held every December, where all proceeds go to over 10 Montreal-based charities. The fundraising event is planned and run wholly by the Library staff, also featuring a potluck lunch.

The Ritz-Carlton Montreal is a luxury hotel located at 1228 Sherbrooke Street West, on the corner of Drummond Street, in Montreal, Quebec. Opened in 1912, it was the first hotel in North America to bear the Ritz-Carlton name. Its name was originally licensed by César Ritz directly, and while the hotel is now part of the chain managed by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company it uniquely retains its original branding stylisation. The original builders called themselves the Carlton Hotel Company of Montreal, with the concept of naming it after London's celebrated Carlton Hotel. However, one of the investors, Charles Hosmer, was a personal friend of César Ritz and persuaded his colleagues to incorporate the Ritz name, owing to the success of the Hôtel Ritz Paris that opened in 1898. For a fee of $25,000, César Ritz agreed to lend his name, but stipulated that in accordance with the "Ritz standards", every room was to have its own bathroom; there was to be a kitchen on every floor so room-service meals could be served course by course; and a round-the-clock valet and concierge service was to be made available to the guests for, amongst other duties, tracking lost luggage or ordering theatre tickets etc. Finally, the lobby was to be small and intimate yet with a curved grand staircase for the ladies to show off their ball gowns on their descent.