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1972 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts robbery

1972 crimes in Canada1972 in QuebecArt crimeCrime in MontrealHistory of Montreal
Museum crimeRobberiesSeptember 1972 events in CanadaUnsolved crimes in Canada
Vanitas still life with books, a globe, a skull, a violin and a pocket watch
Vanitas still life with books, a globe, a skull, a violin and a pocket watch

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.

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1972 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts robbery
Avenue du Musée, Montreal Ville-Marie

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N 45.4987 ° E -73.5801 °
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Pavillon Michal et Renata Hornstein

Avenue du Musée
H3G 2E8 Montreal, Ville-Marie
Quebec, Canada
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2011 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts theft

The 2011 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts theft took place in two separate incidents during September and October of that year. In both instances, the same thief took a small ancient stone piece that was openly exhibited, without a protective case, and smuggled it out of the museum. One has since been recovered; however, the thief remains unidentified and the whereabouts of the other is not known. On September 3, one day before the anniversary of the 1972 robbery of 18 paintings, a visitor took a sandstone Achaemenid Empire relief. In late October, he returned to take a Roman marble head from its pedestal. The two works were collectively valued at $1.3 million, with the relief accounting for almost all of that amount. The museum did not disclose the theft until February 2012 to avoid compromising the joint investigation by its insurance company and Sureté du Québec's art theft unit. Security camera footage allowed them to obtain a description of the thief; investigators believed he was local. A reward was offered for the return of the works. In 2013, police were led to Simon Metke, an Edmonton man who had bought the Achaemenid piece for CDN$1,400 during a visit to Montreal two years earlier, believing it to possibly be a replica, after it was seen on a wall behind him during a CBC interview unrelated to the case. The museum ultimately declined to buy it back from their insurer and it was put on the market in late 2016. Charges laid against Metke were disposed with a conditional discharge after he pled guilty to possession of stolen property. Metke's story inspired a character in Kevin Smith's 2016 film Yoga Hosers, as well as the film's title. The relief itself was later found to have been taken from Iran illegally, and returned there after being seized from a dealer's wares during a New York art fair.

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