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Stealing Rembrandt (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Andrew Deavis.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: And I'm Megan Nolet. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: St. Patrick's Day is one of the biggest celebrations of
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  Speaker 1: the year in Boston, Massachusetts. The day honours St Patrick.
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  Speaker 1: He helped bring Christianity to Ireland. Many people who are
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  Speaker 1: not Irish still have parties. They play loud music and
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  Speaker 1: drink alcohol. For a few hours, they forget the worries
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: of their everyday lives. People are not paying attention to
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  Speaker 1: much else happening around them. They assume everything is fine
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  Speaker 1: and can wait until morning. But one night following St
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  Speaker 1: Patrick's Day, everything was not fine. People did not know
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  Speaker 1: that some things would be gone in the morning. They
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  Speaker 1: had no idea that 13 famous works of art worth
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars would be missing.
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  Speaker 2: Today's Spotlight looks at a robbery. A robbery is when
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  Speaker 2: someone takes something that does not belong to them. This
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  Speaker 2: robbery took place on March 18, 1990, in Boston, Massachusetts.
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  Speaker 1: St.
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  Speaker 2: Patrick's Day has just ended. It was 12.30 in the morning.
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  Speaker 2: A few people leaving a party walked home near the
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  Speaker 2: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in downtown Boston. They passed a
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  Speaker 2: car that was sitting 100 feet from the side door
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  Speaker 2: to the museum. Two men wearing police uniforms sat in
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  Speaker 2: the car. The people kept walking without saying anything to
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  Speaker 2: the men. The two men in police clothing did not
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  Speaker 2: get out of their car for another 50 minutes.
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  Speaker 1: At 1.20 in the morning, the two men in police
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  Speaker 1: clothing walked to the museum's side door. They flipped a
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  Speaker 1: switch to speak to the security guards sitting inside the museum.
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  Speaker 1: Two security guards were on duty that night. The two
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  Speaker 1: men told the guards that someone had reported a problem
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  Speaker 1: at the museum. They needed to come in to investigate.
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  Speaker 1: One of the guards, Richard Abath, saw on his security
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  Speaker 1: television screen that the men outside were wearing police uniforms.
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  Speaker 1: Abath had not heard there was a problem at the museum,
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  Speaker 1: but he let the men in.
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  Speaker 2: The policemen entered a waiting area. Abath still had to
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  Speaker 2: let them into the main museum. The men said Abath
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  Speaker 2: looked like a criminal for whom they had been looking.
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  Speaker 2: They demanded Abath let them in. When Abbott did, the
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  Speaker 2: men caught Abbott and the other security guard and handcuffed them.
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  Speaker 2: Handcuffs are metal restraint devices designed to hold a person's
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  Speaker 2: wrists together. One of the men wearing police clothing said,
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  Speaker 2: This is a robbery.
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  Speaker 1: The two robbers, or thieves, were just acting like policemen.
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  Speaker 1: They put the security guards in the museum's basement, the
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  Speaker 1: floor below ground level. They tied fabric around the guards'
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  Speaker 1: heads and eyes. The thieves handcuffed the guards to a pipe.
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  Speaker 1: The thieves told the guards that if they did not
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  Speaker 1: tell the police about them later, they would send them
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  Speaker 1: money in a year.
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  Speaker 2: It was now 1.35 in the morning. The Boston Police
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  Speaker 2: Department did not know that two thieves were inside the
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  Speaker 2: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The thieves walked to the Dutch
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  Speaker 2: room on the second floor. This room held many great
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  Speaker 2: works of art by Dutch artists. The thieves destroyed the
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  Speaker 2: alarm that sounded when someone got too close to a painting.
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  Speaker 2: The thieves took two paintings off the wall. They cut
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  Speaker 2: the glass around the paintings. The paintings were Christ in
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  Speaker 2: the Storm on the Sea of Galilee and A Lady
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  Speaker 2: and Gentleman in Black both by the painter Rembrandt. Christ
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  Speaker 2: in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee is Rembrandt's
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  Speaker 2: only seascape painting. The thieves used knives to cut the
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  Speaker 2: paintings out of their frames.
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  Speaker 1: They took other famous works of art from the Dutch Room,
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  Speaker 1: including the Concert by Vermeer. The Concert is one of
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  Speaker 1: only 34 paintings Vermeer completed. He is considered a master.
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  Speaker 1: The concert is worth $ 250 million. It is the world's
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  Speaker 1: most valuable stolen object.
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  Speaker 2: The thieves moved to a room called the Short Gallery.
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  Speaker 2: They stole six things, including five pieces by the French
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  Speaker 2: artist Degas.
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  Speaker 1: The final painting stolen was Chez Tortoni by the French
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  Speaker 1: artist Monet. It hung in the blue room.
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  Speaker 2: The thieves then visited the guards in the basement and
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  Speaker 2: asked if they were okay. The thieves left the outer
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  Speaker 2: wooden frame for Che Tortoni at the security director's workstation.
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  Speaker 2: They carried the stolen artwork through the museum's side door
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  Speaker 2: to their car.
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  Speaker 1: The thieves left at 2.45 in the morning. They stole
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  Speaker 1: 13 works of art valued at over $ 500 million. The
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  Speaker 1: thieves spent 81 minutes in the museum. It is considered
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  Speaker 1: the biggest museum robbery in history.
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  Speaker 2: A few hours later, other museum security guards arrived for
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  Speaker 2: their shift. They could not find anyone to let them in.
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  Speaker 2: They called the security director, who came to the museum
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  Speaker 2: with his keys. When they went inside and did not
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  Speaker 2: find Abbott and the other guard, the director called the police.
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  Speaker 2: Boston Police Department officers came and searched inside the building.
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  Speaker 2: They found Abbott and his co-worker blindfolded and handcuffed in
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  Speaker 2: the basement.
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  Speaker 1: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, took control of
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  Speaker 1: the case. They questioned Abath and his co-workers many times.
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  Speaker 1: The FBI talked to the people who walked by the
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  Speaker 1: two thieves sitting in their car before the robbery. The
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  Speaker 1: FBI made images of the thieves' faces based on what
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  Speaker 1: the witnesses remembered.
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  Speaker 2: Investigators searched the museum for fingerprints and other evidence that
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  Speaker 2: could identify the thieves. They found none. They questioned members
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  Speaker 2: of local gangs connected to a criminal organization called the
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  Speaker 2: Boston Mafia. But no one told the FBI anything about
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  Speaker 2: the Gardner Museum robbery.
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  Speaker 1: For many years, the FBI suspected Abath had been involved
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  Speaker 1: in the robbery. Several strange things happened involving Abath. The
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  Speaker 1: Gardner Museum's rules for workers clearly stated that security guards
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  Speaker 1: were not to let anyone in without official permission. including police.
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  Speaker 1: Abath said he did not know about that rule. That
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  Speaker 1: was why he let the two thieves in who were
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  Speaker 1: wearing police clothing.
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  Speaker 2: On the night of the robbery, before the thieves arrived,
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  Speaker 2: Abath walked through the museum, making sure everything was okay.
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  Speaker 2: This was part of his job. Twice, Abath walked through
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  Speaker 2: a room called the Blue Room. The museum used motion
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  Speaker 2: sensors in each room. The FBI later reviewed the records
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  Speaker 2: for the motion sensors that showed no one entered the
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  Speaker 2: Blue Room during the 81 minutes of the robbery. The
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  Speaker 2: final painting that was stolen was named Che Tortoni from
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  Speaker 2: the Blue Room. If the thieves did not enter the
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  Speaker 2: Blue Room, who took Che Tortoni? Only one person had
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  Speaker 2: been in the blue room that night. Abath.
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  Speaker 1: Also, while walking through the museum, Abath opened and closed
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  Speaker 1: the side door to the museum. Abath said he had
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  Speaker 1: done this to make sure the door was working correctly.
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  Speaker 1: But investigators considered two other possibilities. One was that Abath
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  Speaker 1: opened the side door to signal to the thieves sitting
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: in their car that it was time to enter the museum.
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  Speaker 1: The other was that Abath opened the door to take
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  Speaker 1: the painting Chetortoni out to the two thieves in their car.
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  Speaker 2: Finally, the FBI questioned how nicely the two thieves had
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  Speaker 2: treated Abath and his fellow guard. It seemed strange to
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  Speaker 2: the FBI that the thieves were so concerned with the
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  Speaker 2: guard's well-being unless they were working with Abath.
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  Speaker 1: Abath denied any involvement in the robbery. For years he
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: remained a suspect and was questioned again many times, but
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  Speaker 1: Abath promised he was not working with the thieves and
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  Speaker 1: did not know them.
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  Speaker 3: Abath said, The investigators wanted to know if I had
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  Speaker 3: taken the painting, Che Tortoni, and hid it somewhere. I
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  Speaker 3: told them, as I have said a hundred times before
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  Speaker 3: and since, I had nothing to do with the robbers
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: or the robbery.
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  Speaker 2: Abbott spent the rest of his life in Vermont with
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  Speaker 2: his wife. They lived in a small home. Abbott worked
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  Speaker 2: as a teacher's assistant. If he had been involved in
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  Speaker 2: the robbery, Abbott's life didn't show any signs of wealth
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: from selling the stolen artwork.
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  Speaker 1: It has been more than 35 years since the robbery
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, but the FBI still
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  Speaker 1: has not arrested anyone. None of the 13 stolen works
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  Speaker 1: of art have been found or returned. Many questions remain unanswered.
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  Speaker 1: Who were the thieves? Why did they take the paintings?
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  Speaker 1: Where is the artwork now? Why did the thieves leave
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  Speaker 1: the frame for Shea Tortoni on the security director's workstation?
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  Speaker 1: Why did they steal some pieces but not take other
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  Speaker 1: valuable paintings?
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  Speaker 2: The Gardner Museum has offered a $ 10 million prize for
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  Speaker 2: information leading to the recovery of the stolen artwork. Until then,
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  Speaker 2: the museum still believes in the power of art to
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  Speaker 2: change people's lives and better the world. The Gardner Museum
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  Speaker 2: proudly displays its remaining artwork alongside empty frames where the
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  Speaker 2: stolen paintings were once hung. The empty frames will not
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  Speaker 2: be taken down until the paintings are returned.
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  Speaker 1: Who are some of your favorite painters? Why do you
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  Speaker 1: think the robbers who stole the paintings from the Gardner
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  Speaker 1: Museum have never been caught? Do you think anyone will
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: ever find the missing paintings? You can leave a comment
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and X. You can also
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your Android or Apple
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: device through our free official Spotlight English app.
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  Speaker 2: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
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  Speaker 2: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted
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  Speaker 2: for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written, voiced,
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  Speaker 2: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
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  Speaker 2: where in the world they live. This episode is called
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Stealing Rembrandt.
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  Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Spotlight episode. Goodbye.