Boston has a museum heist of its own, in fact, the largest property crime in U.S. history. More than three decades after 13 artworks disappeared from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the $500 million mystery remains unsolved. Now, with museums across Europe facing a new run of increasingly brazen thefts, and The Jury Experience bringing a fictional $20 million heist to Boston this weekend, it’s a fitting time to revisit the crime that has kept one of the city’s strangest mysteries alive.
25 October 2026 16:30 + more dates
Regent Theatre
In southern France, thieves recently cut through the fence at Renoir Museum with an electric knife and hacksaw, taking four Renoir paintings in a burglary that was complete within five minutes. The theft followed a string of robberies across Europe, from the Louvre’s multimillion-euro jewellery heist to the theft of Bronze Age artefacts in Spain and a diamond necklace in Vienna.
Europol has warned that museum thefts are becoming increasingly brazen, with criminals using more forceful methods to get in and get out quickly.
Boston’s most famous museum robbery unfolded a little different. On the night of March 18, 1990, two men arrived at the Gardner dressed as police officers. A security guard let them through the door, despite protocol, and the pair soon had two guards handcuffed in the basement. They then wandered through the museum, removing 13 artworks from their frames before leaving with paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet.
The case was never solved, and the paintings never returned. Their empty frames remain in the galleries where the works once hung, left untouched as a kind of permanent placeholder for the missing masterpieces. Today, the stolen collection is valued at more than $500 million, and the Gardner heist remains the largest property crime in U.S. history.
If all this has you itching to put your detective skills to the test, there’s another heist to investigate in Boston this weekend.
The Jury Experience: The 20 Million Dollar Heist puts you in the jury box for a fictional case involving a $20 million theft. As the trial unfolds, you’ll hear witness testimonies, examine the evidence and piece together the conflicting accounts before casting your vote on the verdict. It’s an immersive courtroom experience with all the Hollywood drama: diamonds, a high flying actress, and deception.
The Jury Experience – The 20 Million Dollar Heist
25 October 2026 16:30 + more dates
Regent Theatre
