I'm Kento Bento.
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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,
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