Gardner Museum to renovate room linked to historic art heist

BOSTON - The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston is going to renovate the room at the center of one of the largest art heists in history.

Dutch Room renovation

Back on March 18, 1990, 13 pieces of art worth more than $500 million were stolen from the museum. Six of the best known works were taken from the Dutch Room. Among them were two Rembrandt paintings that were cut from their frames. Those frames remain empty on the walls in the Dutch Room to this day.

The crime remains unsolved and the museum says it's time to restore the room because, "time itself has faded much of the gallery's splendor."

Two-year renovation

The project, which is expected to take more than two years, will include the restoration of paintings, frames, sculptures and furniture in the Dutch Room, as well as the ceiling, tiles and lighting. The frames left behind after the theft will also be restored.

"By early 2027, young Rembrandt will look out over a room beautifully restored, much closer to Isabella's original vision, and ready to welcome back the stolen works when they someday return (we hope and believe) to their rightful home," the museum said in a statement on its website .

The museum says the gallery will stay open during the restoration to give visitors "the unique opportunity to witness conservators at work."

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft

The museum is still offering a $10 million reward for any information that leads to the return of the stolen art.

Several key figures from the night of the heist have died, including security guard Richard Abath, who passed away in February

Investigators said the thieves, who were disguised as Boston police officers, convinced Abath and the other security guard to let them into the museum saying they were called there because of a disturbance.

The guards were tied up as the art was stolen. There have been no arrests.

"I walk by the empty frames every day," Anthony Amore, the museum's director of security, told WBZ-TV back in March, 34 years after the heist.

"I believe that information is going to come in, or I am going to get the stuff first, but one way or another we will get the art back."

The Gardner Museum will update the progress of the renovations on its Facebook page .