At the Northern Bank in Belfast masked men stole £26M, the largest cash robbery in UK history.

This #Heist (though the violent kidnapping blurs this term) exposed a society still marked by conflict and fragile trust.

Maybe it exposes the fault lines of #reconciliation?

#HI6171 📷: Amazon

#GardnerMuseum: two fake police, 13 stolen masterpieces, and 0 arrests.

Maybe this #Heist shows the moment in time when #massmedia and #PublicBroadcasting broadened the publics understanding of the value of #Art and #CulturalHerietage? #PublicHistory #Democratizing #Culture?

#HI6171

The #MapleSyrupHeist shows how positive #stereotypes can fortify #NationalIdentity.

Canada’s “most valuable” #Heist was non-violent, with no guns, and the perpetrators were held accountable.

#LiquidGold for a country that often defines itself in contrast to its neighbour.

#HI6171 #PublicHistory

What we choose to remember, and what we laugh about, says a lot about who we are as #Nations.

So do our commitments to justice.

Canada, a country that prides itself on law and order, arrested 17 people and justice was served to them sweet and slow... with maple syrup on the side.

#HI6171

The fact that the #MapleSyrupHeist is Canada’s largest to date #Heist, a non-violent and glacial theft, made for great fodder for late night hosts... Canadians became the punch line but they liked it.

Being told that even our crimes are polite reinforced #NationalIdeinty and #Values.

#HI6171

Apparently, over several months, nearly 10,000 barrels, worth in excess of $18 million were siphoned from the #CanadaianCartel...

Thank goodness it was only maple syrup! 🍁

When the news broke, late-night hosts couldn’t resist.

The world laughed, but for Canadians, it hit close to home. #HI6171

He tries to climb onto one of the huge barrels that should hold 600 pounds of product… but it feels lighter than usual.

When he opens it, he can’t believe his eyes. Things were about to get sticky.

Who would dare mess with the #CanadianCartel?

For anyone interested here is a play by play of the theft presented by the museum.
www.gardnermuseum.org/audioguide/e...

And the FBI continues to hunt for leads 35 years later. Let's hope French officials are more successful at solving the #LouvreHeist.
📷: FBI
#HeistHistories #PublicHistory #Heist #Rembrant #FBI

Keeping a candle burning for what was lost, the #IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum still hangs the empty frames where the stolen paintings once were.

Silent reminders, waiting for their art to come home.
📷: Gardner Museum
#HI6171

Once done with the Rembrandts, the thieves turned to a few Degas sketches, a Manet, and even an eagle finial that once crowned one of Napoleon’s flagpoles.

In total, 13 works vanished that night, worth an estimated $600 million.

35 years later the museum is offering a $10 million reward.

📷: FBI

Then another. This time, a landscape once attributed to Rembrandt.

Only art historians "in the know" would have realized it had recently been reattributed to his student, Govaert Flinck.

A curious choice for thieves with such discerning taste…

Landscape with an Obelisk, 1638
📷: gardnermuseum.org

Then another Rembrandt was torn off the wall and cut from its frame.

A Lady and Gentleman in Black, 1633
📷: gardnermuseum.org