Amsterdam
With just a rope and a ladder, thieves foiled the high-tech alarm system at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam this week and made off with two of Vincent’s early works. The museum entrances are protected at night by closed-circuit cameras, motion detectors, and security guards. So the burglars didn’t use the entrances. They simply propped a ladder up against the building and climbed in from the roof. After snatching two paintings off the wall, they broke a side window and shimmied down a rope to escape. Art experts said that Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (1884) and View of the Sea at Scheveningen (1882), valued at several million dollars each, were probably stolen to order for a private collector.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Pope seeks inquiry on if Gaza assault is 'genocide'Speed Read In a book for the Jubilee 2025, Pope Francis considers whether Israel's war in Gaza meets the legal definition of 'genocide'
-
Can Europe pick up the slack in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Trump's election raises questions about what's next in the war
-
Biden allows Ukraine to hit deep in RussiaSpeed Read The U.S. gave Ukraine the green light to use ATACMS missiles supplied by Washington, a decision influenced by Russia's escalation of the war with North Korean troops
