I'm Kento Bento. This video is made
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in the description. Stockholm, Sweden. 2010. Passersby on the streets of the
capital were confused and scared. Several cars in and around the vicinity had lit up in flames, and
no one had any idea why. Police soon arrived on scene but they too were baffled
with what they saw. Now, several kilometers to the
west, on the outskirts of the city, a small group of masked men made their way across the grounds of
the Drottningholm Palace, the private residence of
the Swedish Royal Family. Their target was the
royal pavilion situated in the southern part of the complex, which displayed countless
works of historic art. Once there, the men forced their way in through the backdoors,
and went right to work. They smashed the protective display cases,
and grabbed whatever items they wanted. This immediately set off the alarm system,
which alerted the Swedish police. Now, despite the alarm,
the robbers remained calm, because they knew exactly
where the police were. The burning cars on the
other side of the city were in fact a distraction for
them set up by the robbers, and they had fallen right into the trap. Still, the police raced
towards the crime scene, but by the time they
reached the royal pavilion, the place was empty, the robbers were in and out
in less than six minutes. Upon inspection, sculptures,
chalices, plates and teapots, all invaluable items, were now missing from the permanent state
collection of art and antiquities; and this wasn't just a huge economic loss, but a cultural one as well. It was later found out that
after fleeing the pavilion on mopeds, the robbers made
their way to a nearby lake where they were then picked
up by a white speedboat. Though from this point,
the trail went cold. Despite this, authorities
remained relatively optimistic, as, in situations like these, items tended to be
recovered sooner or later. Very few people are
actually prepared to handle such high-profile works, as the pieces are often
too difficult to sell. But what the authorities
failed to realize at the time, was that the culprits were
no ordinary criminals. Little did they know,
the Drottningholm heist was just the beginning. Five months later in Bergen, Norway,
masked men descended from a glass ceiling into the KODE Museum, grabbing
vases, imperial seals, and more. In 2012, in Durham, England, thieves
broke into a museum at Durham University stealing high-value porcelain
sculptures and bowls. That same month the museum at
Cambridge University was also hit. And in 2015, in Paris, France,
intruders smashed their way into the Château de Fontainebleau, the exquisite former residence
of the French monarchs with more than 1500
rooms full of treasures, making out with artifacts so rare they were considered the
masterworks of the royal chateau. Now at this point, with
this all set in Europe, you may be wondering why this
video is titled the way it is. Well, it turns out, the
heists shared a similar M.O., cars were lit on fire as
distractions for police, actions taken were clean and meticulous, getaway methods were often
identical, but, most importantly, the artifacts stolen were
all of a similar type. You see, the first heist, the
pavilion in Sweden on the grounds of Drottningholm palace,
was the Chinese Pavilion. The 56 objects stolen from
the KODE Museum in Norway was from the China Collection. Intruders broke into the Oriental
Museum in Durham University, England. And it was the grand Chinese
Museum that was targeted in the Château de Fontainebleau in France. In each heist, the robbers
set their sights on art and antiquities from China. In fact, it seemed they were working
from a very specific shopping list. They knew exactly what they
wanted and where each piece was located, and they
were willing to leave behind high-value objects
that weren't on the list; like in the chateau,
they completely ignored the other 1500 rooms containing
many other priceless relics, as they weren't Chinese. Interpol was put on the case as the crimes were clearly transnational; but
despite their investigation, the crime spree could not be stopped. In the years that followed,
reports of Chinese art heists continued throughout
museums across Europe. Now, the general feeling
in intelligence circles was that the criminals were
carrying out instructions from abroad as ordered jobs;
with the true mastermind far from the jurisdiction
of European countries. But who was this mastermind? Or masterminds? And why would they steal
so many documented works that can neither be legally
sold nor openly exhibited? Indeed, the majority of the stolen art never actually resurfaced,
increasing the likelihood that it ended up as part of someone or some organization's private collection. As the years went by,
it seemed to be becoming one of the greater mysteries
in art, alongside Stonehenge, Banksy, and the case of
the second Mona Lisa. But upon closer inspection, the mystery of the Chinese
art heists began to unravel, as signs pointed to the involvement
of an elite group of individuals. But to fully understand this,
we first need to go back in time, back 160 years ago to the
end of the Second Opium War. Beijing, 1860. British and French
troops marched defiantly towards the magnificent Old Summer Palace, the main imperial residence
of the Qing dynasty. The men were ready for retribution, as a few weeks earlier
their comrades were tortured and murdered at the hands of
the Chinese while attempting to negotiate peace under a
prearranged flag of truce. When the Europeans reached
the palace grounds, they didn't hold back, laying
waste to everything in sight. The Old Summer Palace,
known for its architecture, extensive gardens, and its numerous
art and historical treasures, was now being desecrated and pillaged. Sculptures, robes, jewelry,
vases, chalices, plates, teapots, and even Pekingese dogs,
a breed unknown to Europe at the time, were hauled away as trophies. This momentous event,
set a 160 years earlier, was in fact the original
Chinese art heist, perhaps the real greatest
art heist in Chinese history. Once the soldiers were done pilfering, they torched the palace grounds,
to the horror of the Chinese. Now the majority of the
loot made its way to Europe, ending up in the possession
of private collectors and royal families. Queen Victoria of Britain was even gifted the very first pet Pekingese
dog ever seen in Europe, which she brazenly named Looty. Over time many of these Chinese
relics (Looty not included) made its way to museums across Europe, including the Drottningholm
Palace in Stockholm, the KODE museum in Bergen, and the Château de Fontainebleau in Paris. Present day, China is one of
the countries that has suffered the most from the loss
of antiquities, and, in the past decades, has
managed to conjure a groundswell of national support for the
return of their cultural art. In fact, the Chinese government
has openly promoted efforts to repatriate works pillaged
during the Opium Wars, most notable the invaluable items
stolen from the Old Summer Palace. As a result, certain individuals
in China have now taken it upon themselves to lead the charge, bringing back China's lost art,
piece by piece, no matter the cost. But who could this be? Who would have the resources
and dedication to pull off such a feat? Well, in 2016, China made
headlines for creating more billionaires than the United States for the first time in
history; the growth driven by self-made entrepreneurs
(many in the tech industry). It has now reached a point
where a new billionaire is minted in China every two days. For this new class of elites,
buying up Chinese artifacts, for inordinate sums of money,
has now become the latest hot trend; an opportunity to show off not
just their new-found riches but also their fervent patriotism. After all, the fate of
the nation's plundered art from the royal residence of
what was China's last dynasty, has been a focal point of national pride. In 2010, in a suburban
London auction house, a 16-inch Chinese vase
from the Old Summer Palace started with an inconsequential
price of $800,000, but ended half an hour
later with a final bid of $69,500,000, 50 times its estimate, the bidder an anonymous buyer from China. And this wasn't unique. There was also the small
porcelain chicken cup which sold for $36 million, and a Tibetan silk tapestry
which sold for $45 million. But just swooping in
and purchasing artifacts left and right isn't always possible. In many cases, the most
prized and rarest works of art never go up for auction, rather they're kept at Western
museums, or held in private collections. So what happens when all legal
avenues have been exhausted? Well, there is the idea that
some Chinese billionaires are funding free agents to
retrieve these museum works. And instead of putting these
dubiously-acquired treasures up for display for all to
see, are understandably hiding them away in highly-secured,
climate-controlled warehouses. Though, not all may actually
care to play it so low-key; because with Chinese laws, from theft to intellectual property, being very different
from the Western world, the aforementioned issues
of selling or exhibiting these high-profile stolen works
may not be so problematic after all. There's also the justification
many have that since the items were initially
stolen from China, it can't be considered a real crime; and by now returning the
artifacts to its homeland to be displayed, they are
somehow aiding its liberation. Now, all this may seem a
plausible-enough explanation, perhaps even likely, but billionaires aren't
the only suspects here. In recent years, there
has been another popular idea circulating; one that puts
the culpability on an entity far greater and more powerful
than Chinese billionaires; and that's the Chinese government, the implication being that
China itself is the one ordering the thefts from Western museums, and that they are in fact the
buyer of the stolen relics. After all, China's communist
party has already made it clear that they want their
art back, with seemingly little care about the
methodology of their return. Certainly, they've
demonstrated no real concern or sympathy for the
museum heists in Europe. And in fact, apparently
one of the items stolen from the KODE Museum in Bergen, Norway, is now openly displayed at one
of China's International airports in Shanghai. Police in Bergen did attempt
to follow up on this lead, but Norwegian authorities
higher up didn't want to insult the Chinese with accusations, nor cause an international
incident, and so did nothing. Though if the Chinese government
is involved in all this, it would likely be through
their most powerful and most impenetrable
conglomerate, the China Poly Group. This state-run corporation
started as an offshoot of the People's Liberation Army
as their arms-manufacturing wing, but has since evolved far beyond. Their varied pursuits now
include not just the peddling of missiles and weapons systems,
but international trade, real estate and, perhaps
most unexpectedly, the buying and selling
of art and antiquities. In fact, they run the
third-largest art auction house in the world, behind
Sotheby's and Christie's. Of the company's headquarters
at the New Beijing Poly Plaza, The New York Times noted
the most unusual contrast of being able to buy a
painting on the third floor, and a missile system on the 27th. Today, they have declared
assets of a $140 billion, over twice the GDP of Luxembourg. So could the China Poly Group
be behind the Chinese art heists in Europe? Well, maybe. We already know they've been
running a global information network to locate and reclaim
lost antiquities that, as they put it, have been "illegally
robbed away by western powers". Many might call this a
noble and just cause, although the countries
and cultures whom China itself has taken artifacts
from, through conquest, might have something to say about that. Now China Poly has not revealed
much about their retrieval program, and has not responded to public requests to elaborate on their methodology;
but they have outright denied any involvement
in the museum heists, calling the allegations nonsense. From the evidence, they
claim it cannot be inferred that there was even somebody
ordering the heists. Further, defenders of
China Poly have pointed out that during the robbery in Paris, not all the stolen artworks
were actually Chinese. One item in particular was of Thai origin, a replica crown of the King of
Siam's given to Napoleon III in 1861; so why would the
Chinese government steal that? It's clear there are still
mysteries left unanswered about the Chinese art heists, and perhaps we'll never really know; such as the mystery of
the second Mona Lisa, whose very existence
has puzzled art experts for over a century. Why are there two
versions of The Mona Lisa? And is the one sitting
in the Louvre in Paris even the original? Now, if you want to
find out all about this, there's an excellent
documentary breaking this down (similar to this video) that I highly
recommend you check out. It's available right
now on CuriosityStream, a streaming service with thousands
of high-quality documentaries, created by the same guy
behind the Discovery Channel. So there's The Mona Lisa Mystery
which you should definitely check out, but if you're one of those people who doesn't quite understand
how to look at art, or how to look at a painting (kinda like me who finds
it all a bit baffling) I'd also recommend this
12-part series called, well, "How to Look at a Painting". Now if you love the Kento Bento channel, you're almost certain to be
a lover of documentaries, and by going to
curiositystream.com/kentobento right now, you can get unlimited access to the world's top documentaries
and nonfiction series for a very reasonable $2.99 a month; better yet, by entering
the promo code kentobento during the signup process, your membership will be completely free
for the first 30 days. It'll also help support
the Kento Bento channel. So please, go check it out. (funky upbeat music)
There's already a great article on this: https://www.gq.com/story/the-great-chinese-art-heist
The thieves are not all from China, but China, or rather, some Chinese conglomerates are willing to pay for Chinese artifacts on the black market.
This creates demand, and you know what happens in a market economy once there's a strong demand. In fact, the thieves could be all French in some heists.
Massive respect.
This is not a heist, this is taking back what had been stolen from China.
I think if you buy back the art at auction, it's saying those who stole it are the rightful owners. that is counterproductive. you should never pay for something that was stolen from you. the best scenario is the two governments come to an agreement like with China and Italy. I'm not sure how I feel about stealing it. because you have to be at the same level as the people who stole it in the first place. (without the mass murdering and colonizing of course)
I don't care who it is but my upmost respect for these fine gentlemen.
God bless themGuan Yu bless them.Kidnapped things they "rightfully" stolen back.
Wouldn't the greatest heist of Chinese art in history the sacking of the summer palace?
Absolutely fucking well done. The colonized south american in me is thrilled. Keep up with the good work.
So what was once taken by force can also be taken back by force? To be honest, if there exists a better way to just ask for the relics' return, even if China paid a reasonable price for the years of safekeeping, I'd take the easy route. Taking it back by force has a semblance of justice, but it also risks damaging the items (or risks damaging other items that are not China's), and it does involve breaking property in order to take the relics back. I've always wondered what governments in Egypt, Iraq and other countries would do if one day, they became powerful again and have the upper hand over their former colonisers. China just happens to be powerful enough it has the resources to mount special ops.
Looks like great materials for a movie!