Theft of the Mona Lisa

It was the art theft of the century... On August 21st, 1911, someone stole the most famous painting in the world from the Louvre. According to author Seymour Reit, "Someone walked into the Salon Carré, lifted it off the wall and went out with it! The painting was stolen Monday morning, but the interesting thing about it was that it wasn't 'til Tuesday at noon that they first realized it was gone."

The Section Chief of the Louvre makes a frantic call to the Captain of the Guards... who informs the Curator... who telephones the Paris Prefect of Police... who alerts La Sûreté, the National Criminal Investigation Department. By early afternoon, sixty inspectors and more than one hundred gendarmes rush to the museum. They bolt the doors and interrogate the visitors, then clear the galleries and station guards at the entrances. And for an entire week they search every closet and corner – room-by-room, floor-by-floor – all forty-nine acres of the Louvre. The news shocks the world. "Of course it had worldwide repercussions. It was on the front page of every major newspaper," says Reit. Who could have done such a thing? Perhaps one of the countless cleaners and workmen who labor in the Louvre, or the underpaid security guards. Even the Louvre administrators themselves are suspected of staging the theft to boost attendance. "One of the head directors was fired. Another was suspended. Various maintenance people were fined and questioned and vilified." (Reit) The Paris Police blame the Louvre for its inadequate security. And the Louvre, in turn, ridicules investigators for failing to turn up even a shadow of a lead. To make matters worse, the various branches of French law enforcement bicker among themselves. "And when one department had an informer," adds Reit, "the other side would arrest him to keep him from being of help. It was like a Samuel Beckett play!" It is the Prefect of the Paris Police, Inspector Louis Lepine, who finally takes charge. Based on interviews with museum staff, including everyone who had ever worked at the museum, and the scant evidence found at the scene, he pieces together a reconstruction of the theft. But for all his efforts, Lepine has no hard leads.

Initial reaction in Paris to the Mona Lisa's disappearance is decidedly one of denial. Many believe it is only a bad joke. When the Louvre reopens a week after the theft, thousands of Parisians file through the Salon Carré like mourners at a funeral. According to Jean-Pierre Cuzin, current Curator of Painting at the Louvre, "The public came just to see the void where the painting had been hung, just to see the nails which held her. Everyone thought that she was lost forever. She was a national treasure! There was a huge uproar. It was a major event." "Then, of course, the French temperament took over," adds Seymour Reit, "and they began to have fun with it. There were jokes. There were riddles. There were cartoons. Somebody wrote to the newspapers and said, 'When are they going to take the Eiffel Tower? That's obviously gotta go.' They printed sheet music about the theft of the Mona Lisa, which they sang in cafes. There was a chorus line in one of the cabarets that came out all dressed as the Mona Lisa. I think they were topless!" Famous music hall and theatrical stars are photographed as Mona Lisa, and there is a sudden boom in postcards bearing her image: leaving Paris with Leonardo da Vinci... thumbing her nose at France... on holiday in Nice. But Lepine and his team of detectives find little to be amused about, and doggedly pursue every possible clue. In the investigation that follows, some unusual suspects are called into question, yet the thief and the painting are nowhere to be found.

Her vanishing act in 1911 is not the first mystery associated with the enigmatic lady. Painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 1500s, little else is known about her. Even her true identity is uncertain. According to Cuzin, "The Mona Lisa has all the softness of shape and subtlety of light similar to other works of Leonardo. All of the marvelous faces by Leonardo – that of his Saint Anne, or of Virgin of the Rocks – they have faces of a sort of timelessness, almost unreal, an ideal beauty that is extraordinary. But in contrast, the Mona Lisa is a portrait of a specific person, with a relatively square face."

Whoever Mona Lisa may have been, she has become the object of much affection and obsession over the centuries, perhaps because of Leonardo's own legendary reputation, the small number of works actually completed by him and his propensity for self-promotion. But mostly, her fame is due to his incomparable artistic mastery. As the story of Mona Lisa's disappearance unfolds, so does a greater appreciation of the Da Vinci masterpiece. Leonardo's brush strokes are among the most subtle and exquisite ever seen. His experimental techniques set the standard for generations of artists to come.

Though time has aged and darkened her complexion, Mona Lisa continues to cast her spell. Even centuries later, although avant-garde artists like Duchamp and Dali ridiculed her image, they were paying homage to the Mona Lisa as one of the most influential paintings in art history.

For two years her whereabouts would remain unknown. Then, in November of 1913, with all other leads long since exhausted, a letter arrives at the office of a Florentine antique dealer that would change everything...

The Mona Lisa was eventually found very near the spot where she had been conceived four centuries earlier... having been hidden for two years in the humble apartments of her kidnapper only blocks from the Louvre. She rests again now in the Louvre museum – under considerably more rigorous security – where millions visit her each year. "The woman is not particularly beautiful, and there is not a lot of color," says Cuzin. "There is not that much to see, yet this painting is the most famous in the world. The problem is she has become so famous that we don't really see her anymore. What would be extraordinary would be to see the Mona Lisa for the very first time, as if you had never seen her before."

Borobudur: Pathway to Enlightenment

On the island of Java stands a mountain of a thousand statues... surrounded by volcanoes, shrouded in mystery. In 1814, two hundred men cross the lush Kedu plains of Central Java to search out this legendary mountain near the small village of Boro. For six weeks, they slash and burn the choking vegetation. They clear away tons of volcanic ash. Hidden beneath the debris, they find strange figures carved in stone – thousands of them. The excavation of the monument, known as Borobudur, has been ordered by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the new British Governor of Java. Unlike the Dutch traders before him, Raffles is intrigued by the exotic stories and architecture of the Indonesian islands: "The antiquities of Java have not, till lately, excited much notice; nor have they yet been sufficiently explored. The pursuits of commerce have been too exclusive to allow there being much interest in the subject." When Raffles comes to inspect the progress of his expedition, he finds a colossal pyramid, rising to a huge bell-shaped pinnacle. Lacking adequate historical records, Raffles is unable to determine the exact date of Borobudur's construction, but he does have some insight into the purpose of the structure: "The resemblance of the images which surround this monument to the figure of Buddha, has introduced an opinion that Borobudur was exclusively confined to the worship of that deity." But there is no central altar or sanctuary in this temple. Instead, the galleries that ring the structure are covered with nearly three thousand bas-relief panels carved into the stone. As word of the discovery spreads, scholars of Asian religions visit. They recognize Borobudur as the largest Buddhist temple in the world... and the most unusual. The panels depict the teachings of the Buddha, each familiar story a step in the pilgrim's progress. The galleries are designed to guide the faithful on a spiritual journey as they move upward from terrace to terrace, each level representing a higher plane of consciousness. In ancient times, pilgrims may have come from all over Southeast Asia to study the sacred texts full of mystery, meaning, meditation and morals. Borobudur is a three-dimensional guide to Enlightenment. But despite Raffles' best intentions, uncovering Borobudur has placed it in grave danger, as reports of the exotic temple attract a new breed of pilgrim. The local villagers are no longer superstitious of the monument, and now view it as a constant source of building materials. Souvenir hunters decapitate many of the Buddhas and ship them to mansions and museums throughout the world. For the weary tourist, a teahouse is built high on the crumbling central stupa. According to Asian art historian, Jan Fontein, "Many of the Europeans who came to Asia, and many of the Asians themselves, because they had been converted to Islam, regarded these monuments as the work of heathen, and this prevented them from appreciating their true beauty." But in 1885, an accidental discovery rekindles interest in preserving this ancient treasure. J. W. Ijzerman, a Dutch architect involved in a restoration project, walks along the high processional path that surrounds the base of Borobudur. "And he noticed that the moldings of the wall continued underneath a crack that he saw in the floor," says Fontein. "This meant that all these stones must have been added at a time when part of the building was already finished." Ijzerman excitedly calls for a section of the path to be removed. When sixteen layers of stone have been pulled away, Ijzerman discovers another tier of panels quite unlike those of the upper galleries. These are portrayals of hellish tortures mixed with scenes of sweet pleasure. In all, one hundred sixty panels are uncovered. A few scenes had been left unfinished, with instructions to the stone carver inscribed in Sanskrit, and the style of lettering is so distinctive that it can be dated specifically to the middle of the 9th century. Experts conclude that Borobudur must have been built by the Sailendra kings who ruled in Central Java at that time. Further efforts at restoration by Europeans throughout the next century are well meaning, but ultimately do more damage than good. The sediment and plant life that had shrouded Borobudur for so long had also protected it from the elements. As the galleries are cleared, the porous volcanic stone is exposed to Java's relentless heat and torrential downpours. Throughout most of the 19th century, Borobudur suffers more damage than in the thousand years before. In 1968, the Indonesian government and the United Nations, working through UNESCO, launch the "Save Borobudur" campaign. Over the next fifteen years, twenty million dollars are raised to support a bold plan: the complete dismantling and reconstruction of the lower terraces of the monument – stone by stone. Professionals from twenty-seven countries join their Indonesian counterparts to carry out the project. Over one million stones are moved during the course of restoration, and set aside like pieces of a massive jig-saw puzzle. Thirteen hundred carved panels are taken apart and individually cleaned, catalogued and treated for preservation. And Borobudur becomes a testing ground for new conservation techniques – new procedures to battle the microorganisms eating away at the stone. Experts in engineering, chemistry, biology and archaeology all share their skills to solve the multitude of problems. The restoration takes eight years of labor and unprecedented international cooperation to complete. In the words of Professor Soekmono, the Indonesian archaeologist who directed the Borobudur Restoration Project: "Borobudur has resumed its old historical role as a place of learning, dedication and training. We might even conclude that the builders of the monument hoped and planned for such continuity. An excellent training program, either for the pilgrim-devotee or for the field technician, is always based on a wish, a fervent wish, that the trainee will achieve what is projected. For the ardent Buddhist it is the Highest Wisdom that leads to the Ultimate salvation, and for the technician the highest degree of expertise that leads to the appropriate fulfillment of his duty. In both cases, Candi Borobudur is the embodiment of such a deeply felt wish. It is a prayer in stone."

The Notorious Hope Diamond

It is the rarest of stones... But that's not the only thing about the Hope Diamond that fascinates Evalyn Walsh McLean, the spoiled young heiress with a multi-million-dollar fortune and a taste for jewelry – expensive jewelry. On holiday in Paris in 1911, Evalyn and her husband Ned are at the Hotel Bristol receiving a visit from the Prince of Jewelers himself, Pierre Cartier, who carries with him a curious little package with a wax seal. Hoping to capture the interest of his wealthy and eccentric young client, Cartier has prepared an unusual sales strategy: "I have brought with me a little something you may remember, Madam. For when we last met, you told me of a great blue stone you had seen at the throat of the sultan's favorite in a harem in Turkey. N'est pas..? We have heard since that the unfortunate woman has been stabbed to death during the Turkish rebellion..." Cartier's manner is skillfully mysterious, and seeing that Evalyn's interest has been piqued, he begins a well-rehearsed narrative of this most exceptional stone. Although Evalyn is enticed by the long and varied history of the Hope Diamond, her husband Ned is of a more practical nature and asks Cartier "How much?" Before Cartier can answer, Evalyn interrupts, "Ned, I don't want the thing. I don't like the setting," putting a quick end to the visit. But it would not be the last Evalyn would hear from Cartier concerning the Hope Diamond. Cartier has sold exotic gems to Evalyn in the past. The previous year, she had purchased from him a ninety-five carat white diamond – the Star of the East – for $120,000. Recognizing the limited market for a jewel the size and character of the Hope Diamond, Cartier develops a new sales strategy, which he trusts will clinch the deal. Visiting with the McLeans a few months later, he begins to embroider a past for the stone, mesmerizing Evalyn with tales of intrigue, misfortune and death for all who have dared to possess it. "This stone," he claims, "comes with a curse." "Cartier wanted a lot of money," says Washington Post Columnist Sarah Booth Conroy, "and Evalyn was hesitant. So Cartier added, 'Well, we've fixed it up now with a wonderful setting and you'll like it. Why don't you keep it for a few days?' And so she put it on her dresser and she looked at it and she looked at it..." "For hours that jewel stared at me," remembers Evalyn in her autobiography, "and at some time during the night I began to really want the thing. Then I put the chain around my neck and hooked my life to its destiny for good or evil." The deal closes at $180,000; Cartier's elaborate sales pitch has worked. The Hope diamond is the largest and most perfect blue diamond in existence, but for the young and impetuous heiress, its fascinating past is the hot selling point. "Besides that," says Conroy, "she thought things that were unlucky for everybody else would be lucky for her, because she was an exception." Over the next two decades, the McLeans live a charmed life, raising children, vacationing, and entertaining at their mansions in town and their country estate known as Friendship. No stranger to the rich and powerful of Washington's elite, Evalyn builds her reputation as the town's most flamboyant and exuberant hostess; her parties are the talk of DC society. Invitations run into the thousands, including politicians, tycoons, celebrities and dignitaries from around the world, and Evalyn spares no extravagance to show her guests a good time. Evalyn makes her appearances in the latest Paris fashions, and always she wears the Hope Diamond. "Well, she had such a strong identification with the diamond," says Conroy. "The diamond was the way she portrayed herself to the world. I mean, you would see her across the room and know, 'That must be Evalyn Walsh McLean, because that is the Hope Diamond.'""My own preference, generally, is for show," quips Evalyn in her autobiography. "It's only when the thing I buy creates a show for those around me that I get my money's worth." But not everyone is as enchanted by the Hope Diamond. Almost every day, Evalyn receives letters from strangers who know she now owns the stone, warning her against its evil powers. They blame past association with it, however removed, for their own bad luck and ruin. Still, Evalyn will not give up the Hope. According to Smithsonian Curator, Jeffrey Post: "She lived a flamboyant lifestyle. She liked being in the spotlight, and the Hope Diamond was one way of keeping her in the spotlight. But in Washington entertaining can be an expensive proposition, even for a millionairess. "She hocked the diamond a number of times," adds Conroy, "because she was always running out of money. She was not one to manage her money. She just wanted to live in a certain way and that's what it cost. She was not the world's most practical person, but she meant well." Evalyn tries to make her good luck charm work for the good of others, but it can't keep tragedy from her own back door. At the age of nine, her adored first-born son, Vinson, is killed in an automobile accident. Her husband Ned, runs off with another woman and dissipates their fortune. A chronic alcoholic, he eventually dies in a sanatorium. Their family newspaper, the Washington Post goes bankrupt and Evalyn is forced to sell some of her properties. Then, in 1946, Evalyn's daughter dies of an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of twenty-five. With each misfortune, rumors of the Hope Diamond's curse resume. Though notions persist that the diamond is responsible for her bad luck, Evalyn's own views on its legendary powers are more down to earth: "What tragedies have befallen me might have occurred had I never seen or touched the Hope Diamond. My observations have persuaded me that tragedies, for anyone who lives, are not escapable." In 1947, Evalyn Walsh McLean dies. Her collection of jewelry, including the prized blue diamond, is sold to pay the debts of her estate. In 1949, New York jeweler Harry Winston purchases Evalyn's collection and sends the Hope Diamond on a nine year goodwill tour around the United States to raise money for charity. Everywhere it goes, news reports are filled with the stories of its notorious past, rousing curiosity and magnifying the legend. In 1958, in an effort to help develop a major national gem collection for the American people, Harry Winston donates the gen to the Smithsonian Institution. Today the diamond resides in the museum's Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals, revolving sedately behind three inches of bullet proof glass in the new Harry Winston Room. "The Hope Diamond has become the most popular item in the entire Smithsonian Institution," says Post. "But let's face it, if Evalyn Walsh McLean never owned the Hope Diamond, it's very unlikely that we would all be sitting here talking about it right now. I would be trying hard to convince you that it's a wonderful natural history object and you should all come and see it, but it would probably not have the same cachet or the same fame as it does now." "I cannot remember when I did not hunger after thrills," wrote Evalyn. "That is the key to all my recklessness, I fancy. For some thrills I have paid terrific prices, but we live just once, and of all the things in this world, I hate boredom most."

Taj Mahal India

Long long ago, in a land called Hindustan, reigned a dynasty of Kings as cultured as they were courageous... It isn't that they were without fault – they could be cruel and cunning warriors – but they were also men of exceptionally good taste, and blessed with the bountiful means to express their vision, they built a splendid empire of beauty, knowledge and grace beyond any known before.

Now there was one among them, known as "King of the World," whose heart's passion burned like fire, and who built a monument for the sake of love that would capture the imagination of the world.

At the age of fifteen, the prince who would be called King of the World met a refined and highborn young girl at a bazaar within the walls of the royal palace in Agra. Court poets celebrated the girl's extraordinary beauty. "The moon," they said, "hid its face in shame before her." For both, it was love at first sight. Five years would pass before the auspicious day chosen for their wedding, and from that moment, they became inseparable companions.
Prince Khurram was the fifth son of the Emperor Jahangir, who ruled in the country now known as India in the sixteenth century. Although the prince was not the eldest son, he soon became the favorite. "Gradually as his years increased, so did his excellence," wrote Jahangir. "In art, in reason, in battle, there is no comparison between him and my other children." At his father's command, Prince Khurram led many military campaigns to consolidate the empire, and in honor of his numerous victories, Jahangir granted him the title "Shah Jahan", "King of the World", a tribute never before paid to an as yet uncrowned Mughal king.

But when Jahangir's health failed, his sons rivaled for succession to the throne. Ultimately, after years of battle and the deaths of his brothers under suspicious circumstances, Shah Jahan was victorious. In 1628, the King of the World ascended the throne in a ceremony of unrivaled splendor. Beside him stood his queen, his comrade and confidante. He titled her "Mumtaz Mahal", "Chosen One of the Palace", and commissioned for her a luxurious royal residence of glistening white marble. In turn, she gave him tender devotion, wise counsel and children – many children – to insure the continuance of the magnificent Mughal dynasty.

The reign of Shah Jahan marked the long summer of Mughal rule, a peaceful era of prosperity and stability. It was also an age of outrageous opulence, and a time when some of the world's largest and most precious gems were being mined from India's soil. According to author and art historian Milo Beach, "Jewels were the main basis of wealth, and there were literally trunks of jewels in the imperial treasury, trunks of emeralds, sapphires, rubies and diamonds. Shah Jahan inherited it all. He had immense wealth and tremendous power and palaces all over the country." The splendor of his court outshone those of his father and grandfather. Inscribed in gold on the arches of his throne were the words, "If there be paradise on earth, it is here."

In 1631, in the fourth year of his reign, Shah Jahan set out for Burhanpur with his armies to subdue a rebellion. Even though Mumtaz Mahal was in the ninth month of a pregnancy, she accompanied him as she had done many times before. On a warm evening of April in 1631, the queen gave birth to their fourteenth child, but soon afterwards suffered complications and took a turn for the worse. According to legend, with her dying breath, she secured a promise from her husband on the strength of their love: to build for her a mausoleum more beautiful than any the world had ever seen before.

Shah Jahan grieved for two years. By official opinion, he never again showed enthusiasm for administering the realm. His only solace would be found in the world of art and architecture, and an obsession with perfection that would last his lifetime. Six months after the death of his wife, he laid the foundation for her memorial across the Jamuna River near his palace in Agra... the jewel of India, the far-famed Taj Mahal.
Pearly pink at dawn and opalescent by moonlight, Mumtaz Mahal's tomb is so delicately ethereal that it threatens to disappear during Agra's white-heat afternoons. In the center of the mausoleum lie the remains of the Empress. Subdued light filters through the delicate screens surrounding her cenotaph and mullahs chant verses from the Koran. It is here that Shah Jahan came with his children to honor the memory of his beloved wife. Here, at last, he found solace.
But Shah Jahan's tranquility was suddenly shattered when his son Aurangzeb assailed the throne. Just as Shah Jahan had conspired against his brothers for Jahangir's empire, so did his own son plot against him. In 1658, Aurangzeb declared himself emperor and imprisoned his father in a tower of the Red Fort in Agra. For Shah Jahan, King of the World, who once commanded the unbounded wealth of an empire, his only consolation would be a view across the Jamuna River to his vision of Paradise. Shah Jahan created his vision of the world, not as it is, but rather as it should be – harmonious, graceful and pure. Inspired by love and shaped to perfection, the Taj Mahal immortalizes one man's love for his wife and the splendor of an era.