On August 21, 1911, an Italian handyman named Vincenzo Peruggia pulled off the most famous art heist in history, largely thanks to atrocious museum security and absurd luck. Peruggia, who had previously been hired by the Louvre to construct glass protective cases, hid in a broom closet overnight. On Monday morning, dressed in the white smock worn by museum staff, he plucked Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece off the wall, wrapped it in his apron, and made his way toward the exit.
However, his grand escape hit an embarrassing roadblock: the staircase door was locked tight. Desperate, Peruggia unscrewed the doorknob and stashed it in his pocket, hoping to force the latch, but the door refused to budge. As he stood trapped in a hallway with the world's most valuable painting under his arm, footsteps approached.
It wasn't the police, but a Louvre plumber named Sauvet. Rather than suspecting a heist, Sauvet saw a fellow worker struggling with a broken door and casually used his key to let Peruggia out into the Paris morning. Peruggia tossed the stolen doorknob away and walked off with the masterpiece.
Shockingly, the painting wasn't even reported missing for over 24 hours. Guards noticed the blank space on the wall but assumed the museum's official photography team had taken it to their studio. It wasn't until the next day, when someone went to check the studio, that panic struck.
The stolen masterpiece remained hidden in Peruggia's apartment trunk for two years before he was caught trying to sell it in Florence.