Virtual tours, lectures mark 25 years since $500M art heist from acclaimed Boston museum

BOSTON – The Boston museum where thieves stole $500 million worth of masterpieces a quarter century ago will honour the missing works by offering virtual tours.

Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum says it’s doing the best it can with tours and lectures to help visitors appreciate the 13 paintings that vanished on March 18, 1990. The 25th anniversary of the infamous heist in Wednesday.

Director Anne Hawley says the museum hasn’t given up recovering the stolen artworks, which she calls “an irreplaceable part of our cultural heritage.”

Hawley says the museum continues to offer a $5 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the works in good condition.

The art, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Manet, was stolen by two men disguised as city police officers.