The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre.

Over 100 years ago, in August 1911, the Mona Lisa painting was stolen off the walls of the Louvre in Paris.

Over 100 years ago, in August 1911, the Mona Lisa painting was stolen off the walls of the Louvre in Paris.In the year 1911, the Mona Lisa painting was hung on the walls of Musée Du Louvre like any other canvas. A former museum employee named Vincenzo Perugia roamed into the gallery before the opening hours on August 21. In 1908, Perugia had moved to Paris and worked at the Louvre for a time. He went to the white smock gallery that all the workers there wore and hid until it closed for the nighttime while he removed the Mona Lisa from its case. When the gallery reopened, he stepped out with the painting under his smock.

In November 1913, calling himself Leonardo Vincenzo, Perugia wrote to an art dealer in Florence named Alfredo Geri, offering to bring the priceless painting to Italy for a reward of 500,000 lire. He moved to Florence by train the next month, bringing the Mona Lisa in a box, hidden beneath a false bottom. After booking into a hotel, he took the painting to Geri’s gallery. Geri convinced him to leave it for expert examination, and the police caught Perugia later that day.

For a brief period, the Mona Lisa was kept on display at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Later it was returned to the Louvre and is on display at the Louvre ever since.