The Theft of the Mona Lisa

On August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian handyman who had helped construct the painting's display case and simply walked out with it under his coat. The theft sparked a global sensation and the painting became famous worldwide largely because of the heist. Peruggia held the painting in his apartment for over two years before being caught while trying to sell it to a Florentine art dealer in 1913.