Top 10 Heists
As police chase after the robbers responsible for two high-profile capers in Europe — the day-time theft of a Renee Magritte painting in Brussels, and the helicopter-aided robbery of a Swedish vault — TIME examines 10 of history's most daring heists
Mona Lisa - 1911
How many disgruntled ex-employees does it take to rob the Louvre? Apparently just one. On Aug. 21, 1911, former workman Vincenzo Peruggia waltzed into the museum and stole the tiny painting, then valued at $1 million, by ripping it from the wall while no one was looking, stuffing it under his shirt, and waltzing right back out. Two years later police captured Peruggia and recovered the painting thanks to an honest art dealer in Florence who reported Peruggia to police after he unsuccessfully tried to pawn it. Even so, the Mona Lisa exhibit remained popular during its disappearance; thousands of museum visitors lined up just to see the empty space where it should have been hanging. Today, the painting has a high-security room all to itself.
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