The day the Mona Lisa was stolen – level 1

21-08-1911

Vincenzo Peruggia is from Italy. He works in a museum. The museum is the Louvre in Paris. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is in the museum.

On August 21, 1911, the museum is closed. Only museum workers are there.

Peruggia goes to the room with the Mona Lisa. Nobody is there. He takes the painting from the wall. He puts his clothes around the painting. Then he leaves the museum. Nobody stops him on the way.

Peruggia has the painting in his apartment in Paris. Two years later, he returns to Italy. He takes the painting with him. He has the painting in his apartment in Florence.

Then he contacts an owner of an art gallery. Peruggia wants to sell the Mona Lisa to him. The owner tells the police. The police take Peruggia to prison.

In the next few days, the Mona Lisa travels around Italy. People are happy when they see the painting. Then Italy returns the painting to the Louvre. After this moment, the painting is more famous than before.

Difficult words: the Louvre (a big museum in Paris), painting (a big picture), apartment (a flat, a place that you rent where you live), owner (a person who has something).

Have you ever heard of Vincenzo Peruggia and his infamous theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre? What do you think motivated him to take such a bold action and how do you think the incident affected the notoriety of the painting?

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