Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the 1990 Heist

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, designed as a Venetian-style palazzo around a central courtyard, opened in 1903 to display Isabella Gardner's personal collection. In 1990, 13 works of art were stolen in one of the largest unsolved art heists in U.S. history; missing pieces include works attributed to Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt. The museum has preserved the empty frames of the stolen paintings on the walls and continues to exhibit its remaining collection and rotating shows.