One of the world's most famous paintings was stolen because of a police officer's murder
Two robbers entered the Munch Museum in Norway and stole 'The Scream' - one of the most famous paintings in the world. The police caught the robbers, but they refused to reveal where the painting was. Only after two years was it discovered under a mattress in an abandoned bus, and then it turned out: the entire purpose of the robbery was to occupy the Norwegian police. The podcast 'Digging Journalism' returns to 2004.
It is not every day that a robbery of one of the most famous works of art in the world takes place, and it is not every day that a country loses its greatest national treasure. But August 22, 2004, started like any other day, and no one imagined it could end so dramatically. In general, dramatic events do not really happen in a quiet country like Norway, let alone in a location like the Munch Museum in Oslo.
On the walls of the museum were 'The Scream' — the most famous painting by Edvard Munch, and 'Madonna' — a work considered one of the most expensive and talked about in the world. In 2004, exactly 80 years after Munch's death, his two most famous works were taken, and it was not even particularly difficult. The robbers simply entered the main hall in the middle of the day with hidden faces and drawn pistols, held a barrel to the temple of a security guard, and ordered everyone to lie on the floor. Sophisticated equipment was not needed: the paintings were simply hanging on a small wire and an old nail.
The Norwegian authorities began an investigation, but for a long time it seemed to lead nowhere. The assumption was that the robbers were simply 'sitting' on their stolen goods, largely because it is almost impossible to sell such high-profile works on the black market. Two years later, 6 criminals were arrested and prosecuted. Three of them were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of between 4 and 8 years, but they refused to reveal the location of the paintings.
Two more years passed, and the Oslo police announced the success of a special operation. It turned out that 'The Scream' and 'Madonna' had never left Norway. Removed from their frames, the paintings were lying under a mattress in an old bus abandoned near an isolated farm. 'Madonna' sustained holes and scratches, while 'The Scream' suffered from dampness. After two years of restoration, in May 2008, both paintings were returned to the Munch Museum, this time under strict security measures.
A later twist in the story involved David Toska, one of Scandinavia's most notorious criminals. Months before the museum robbery, he had carried out a violent armed robbery of safes during which a police officer was murdered. One theory suggests the museum robbery was staged specifically to divert police attention from the murder. According to other reports, Toska himself helped the police locate the stolen paintings in order to reduce his own prison sentence.
