Banksy’s stolen mural turns up at a farmhouse in Italy

A stolen work of art by British street artist Banksy was found in one year and five months at a derelict farmhouse in a rural region of Italy, far away from Paris where it vanished. A joint investigation team of the L’Aquila district prosecutor’s office and the French police announced on Thursday (local time) that it discovered Banksy’s stolen mural at an abandoned farmhouse in L’Aquila, Abruzzo Province, Italy, according to The Associated Press.

Released in June 2018, the mural was known as a tribute to the Bataclan terrorist attack on Nov. 13, 2015 where 90 concertgoers were killed during the show. Banksy drew a weeping girl in white stencil on a black-colored emergency door of the theater, well received by Parisians who deemed it the symbol of the scars of the terrorist attack. However, the mural was cut out and stolen from the venue in January 2019.

The stolen artwork was hidden in the attic of the farmhouse, the L’Aquila district prosecutor’s office said in a press conference. The investigation is underway to find how it was moved to Italy and whether any Italian suspect has got involved in the crime. The owner of the farmhouse, a Chinese national, insisted that he was not aware that the stolen artwork was hidden on the premise. The prosecution alleged that one or more suspects broke into the attic.


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com