Four works of art were attempted to be stolen from the Athens National Gallery on Monday. The robbery, which police said only took seven minutes, occurred just before 5:00. The robbers got in by forcing open a balcony door at the back of the gallery.
Police said that the guard was confused and distracted because alarms had been going off in different parts of the building earlier in the day, but no one was there. This time, when the guard heard the alarm, he saw the shadow of a person and ran after him. The thief dropped a painting before he escaped, which was called Mondrian's Landscape.
The robber got away with three works of art: a Picasso painting called Woman's Head, a Mondrian painting, and a sketch by Italian artist, Guglielmo Caccia. Picasso's Woman's Head was given to Greece in 1949 by the artist himself in honor of the country's success against Nazi Germany. All three artworks were stripped from their frames.
The police also said that the robbery happened on the closing day of an exhibition called Unknown Treasures, which included artwork by Rembrandt and German artist Albrecht Duerer. Museum officials have not yet determined the worth of the stolen artwork, but closed the gallery on Monday as a result of the theft.
-Amelia Hernigle
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16470459
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