Tragedy in the art world...

Wow, it's a sad day for the world of art. Apparently, three armed men stole four paintings from an art mueum in Zurich, Switzerland. The paintings were worth a combined total of, wait for it...$163.2 million!! It's the largest art robbery in Switzerland's history, and police have compared this latest heist to an art robbery that occurred in 2004, where two paintings, The Scream, (I love that painting, it's hilarious!) and Madonna, painted by Edvard Munch were stolen from a muesum in Norway.

The three men behind this latest heist entered the museum wearing dark clothes and ski masks. One of the men held the museum staff at gunpoint, while the other two went in and stole the four paintings. The paintings were hung behind glass, and an alarm went off when the glass was broken, but I guess security didn't get there fast enough. The museum director says that he's just glad that no staff or visitors were hurt.

Last week, two Picasso paintings were stolen from an exhibition near Zurich, and police are wondering whether the two robberies are related. The FBI estimates that the market for stolen art totals around $6 billion a year! Interpol has over 30,000 pieces of stolen art in its database, but only a fraction of the stolen art is found every year, despite heavy investigation. Most stolen art is sold on the black market, although some art pieces that have been stolen frequently are harder to sell. Anyway, sometimes it takes years of work before any clues on a piece of stolen art is found. Seven Picasso paintings were stolen from a museum in 1994, and it took six years for them to be recovered!
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In other news, while all of Europe is searching, All of South Korea is mourning. A fire broke out Sunday night and burned down the wooden structure on top of the Namdaemun Gate (it's official name is Sungnyemun, meaning, "Gate of Exalted Ceremonies"), which once formed part of a wall that encircled the South Korean capital. A man with the last name Chae was arrested after evidence pointed to him, (he left two lighters there, apparently, although the police are still investigating different possibilities). Wonder what will come of it. Anyway, Namdaemun Gate was named South Korea's top national treasure on December 20, 1962, and for many Koreans, its destruction is like losing a family member. Some Koreans can't even sleep because they are mourning so deeply for the loss of the 610 year old cultural monument. The Namdaemun Gate was built in 1398, and has gone through some renovations since then, but it had survived the harsh Japanese occupation between 1910-1945, and the Korean War between 1950-1953, when much of Seoul was destroyed. The Korean Cultural Heritage Administration has undertaken a three year project that will cost $21 million, and will rebuild and restore the historic landmark. So it's a sad day for the cultural world. Hopefully, justice will be served.

Here's pictures of Namdaemun Gate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Namdaemun-Fire-16.PNG (shows the blazing fire)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Namdaemun_After_Fire.JPG
(a picture of the gate after the fire)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Nandaimon_in_the_Japanese_Period.JPG
(A picture of the gate during the Japanese occupation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Seoul-Namdaemun-at.night-01.jpg
(A picture of the gate at night)
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Here's pictures of the stolen paintings

http://www.abcgallery.com/D/degas/degas119.JPG
(Edgar Degas' "Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter,")

http://z.about.com/d/arthistory/1/7/Q/V/ambrvoll_05.jpg
(Paul Cezanne's, "Boy in the Red Waistcoat."

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Zurich-van-Gogh-Vincent-van-Gogh/photo//080211/photos_ts/2008_02_11t092035_450x354_us_art_theft//s:/ap/20080211/ap_on_re_eu/switzerland_art_robbery;_ylt=AstS_b_hTLjVWL1P46pWNBxbbBAF
(Vincent van Gogh's, "Blooming Chesnut Branches.")

http://www.riversidefurniture.co.uk/images/DSCF0029.jpg
(Claude Monet's, "Poppy field at Vetheuil." Not the best picture, but the only one big enough to see)