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17 major paintings stolen from museum in Italy

Xinhua, November 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

A total of 17 paintings worth between 10 and 15 million euros (between 10.6 and 15.9 million U.S. dollars) were stolen at a museum in northern Italy, local officials said on Friday.

Three armed men with masked faces broke into the Castelvecchio (Old Castle) Museum in Verona on Thursday night, local newspaper L'Arena reported.

The loot included masterworks from Andrea Mantegna, Jacopo Tintoretto, Peter Paul Rubens, Antonio Pisano better known as Pisanello, Jacopo Bellini, Hans de Jode and other world famous artists.

The group immobilized the only private security guard who was there and the cashier, then forced the guard to accompany them to the rooms where they stole the paintings.

Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi, who stayed at the scene until late in the night, told journalists that the theft had been likely "commissioned."

"Surely someone sent them, because they acted professionally, and knew what were looking for," he said. The paintings stolen, he added, basically were the most valuable works on display. An investigation was opened over the theft.

Hosted inside a castle which was built in 1354 by the then ruling family of Verona and successively modified by the Venetians, French and Austrians, the Castelvecchio Museum is one of the most important museums in the northern city.

The museum displays a very important collection of Italian and European art in 29 rooms on various levels exhibiting early Christian finds, Lombard goldwork, sculptures from the 10th to the 14th century, medieval arms and armor, and paintings from the 14th to the 18th century.

The museum's director, Paola Marini, called herself shocked by the theft. The experienced art historian, who is about to leave her post after over 20 years, was receiving an award in a nearby restaurant when she was informed of what had happened.

The theft came just a day after two stolen paintings recently recovered by Italian heritage police were displayed in Rome during a ceremony attended by President Sergio Mattarella and Culture Minister Dario Franceschini. Endit