Gardner Museum reopens after climate protest threat
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was back open Sunday after the Boston institution closed on the 33rd anniversary of the infamous art heist because officials learned that climate activists were planning a protest inside.
Gardner Museum officials got wind of Extinction Rebellion Boston’s plan for a demonstration on Saturday — which was 33 years to the day that 13 works of art, worth at least $500 million, were stolen from the museum.
With the threat of a climate protest, the museum decided to close its doors to the public.
“Informed that climate activists were planning a protest inside the Museum that could potentially put our community and artworks at risk, we made the difficult decision to remain closed for the day (on Saturday),” Peggy Fogelman, the Norma Jean Calderwood director of the museum, wrote in an email to the Gardner community.
Climate protesters have ruined art with paint at other museums around the world.
“Climate activists have been protesting around the world using art museums as a stage to promote their cause,” Fogelman added. “This protest was planned to coincide with the anniversary of the art theft that took place at the Gardner exactly 33 years ago.
“While March 18th is always a painful day in the Museum’s history, those feelings were amplified today (Saturday) by not having the opportunity to welcome our visitors,” the director said.
Extinction Rebellion Boston officials said they planned a non-violent, nondestructive demonstration about biodiversity loss for the 33rd anniversary of the art heist. The activists were planning to install original art pieces over the ornate frames kept empty since the heist.
“In those 33 years, more than 1 million species of plants and animals have gone extinct due to human actions. This is the greatest heist on Earth,” an Extinction Rebellion Boston protester said during a rally outside the museum on Saturday.
Thirteen works by renowned artists — such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Manet — were stolen on March 18, 1990 and never recovered.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins addressed the heist in a social media video, calling it “the largest property crime in the history of the world.”
“One of the first things I did as U.S. attorney was make this an active investigation again, rather than a documentary that people were looking at or something we thought about from decades past,” Rollins said.
There remains a $10 million reward offered for information leading to the return of the stolen art.