Museum on the Fens

Today I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with a friend. It was so nice to listen to a barbershop quartet singing in this Venetian palazzo-inspired courtyard.



Photography is not allowed in the museum, but here are some shots of the venue.

The museum is very charming and inviting, and it's hard to believe that one individual amassed this collection of over 2,000 pieces of art, sculpture, tapestry and furniture.

However, the most fascinating thing is that in 1990, two thieves posing as Boston police gained access to the museum and stole 13 works of art totalling $300 million. Considered to be the biggest art heist in U.S. history, the thieves made off with pieces by Rembrandt, Degas, Manet, and Vermeer.

Despite the $5 million reward, to this day the pieces have not been recovered. They are counted as a total loss to the museum because at the time of the theft in 1990, the pieces were not insured. And...even if they were caught now, the thieves would not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has run out. Seeing the empty frames hanging in the place of the stolen paintings is just heartbreaking.

CNN has an excellent article on details of the ongoing investigation.