Mona Lisa Stolen: Louvre Employee's Audacious Theft
A Louvre employee named Vincenzo Peruggia snatched the Mona Lisa from its wall and vanished with it into the night, leaving the museum empty of its most famous treasure for two years. This brazen theft transformed the painting from a revered Renaissance masterpiece into a global celebrity, ensuring that millions would eventually queue just to see the blank space where it once hung.
August 21, 1911
115 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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