Millions Ripped out by Surgeons: Skeletons Lay Scattered on the Floor.

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By William Van Zyl (May 2021)

A Short Story.

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The frames lay scattered across the floor like skeletons stripped of their flesh—vicious vultures had feasted and flown. When the next shift of security guards arrived, they found only the remains.

In a cramped office deep inside the famed museum, the two night-shift guards were discovered handcuffed to a steel shelf. Duct tape sealed their eyes and mouths, transforming them into eerie, alien figures. They had seen nothing. They had heard nothing. When the day-shift guards finally tore away the tape, it ripped each tiny hair from its follicle, leaving raw red bands circling their faces—scars of humiliation and shock.

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“500 millions de dollars d’œuvres d’art arrachées par des chirurgiens — le cœur du célèbre musée a été supprimé.”

“$500 million worth of artwork ripped out by surgeons – the heart of the famous museum removed,” screamed the Paris tabloids. Around the world, television screens and newspapers displayed haunting images of empty frames—mute witnesses to a masterpiece massacre.

The two thieves—disguised as police officers—were master performers. In the early hours of June 16, 1990, they arrived at the museum gates, flashing fake badges and urgent authority. They claimed to have spotted intruders scaling the outer walls with a rope. Calmly, convincingly, they wove their lie. The night guards believed them. And in that moment of misplaced trust, the vaults of history swung open.

The fake officers wore black uniforms and balaclavas—perfect silhouettes of legitimacy and menace combined.

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For decades, the masterpieces had hung proudly within their gilded frames, enchanting generations. But on that fateful June night, reverence gave way to precision. With X-Acto knives as scalpels, the thieves worked like surgeons. They sliced along the borders of the canvases, using the frame edges as guides—quick, clean, efficient. Painting after painting vanished, leaving behind gaping wounds where beauty once lived.

The stolen artworks were rolled with care and slipped into long musical instrument cases. Surveillance footage later revealed the outlines—cases for bass violins, wind instruments, and keyboards. Ingenious concealment. Anyone who saw them might have assumed they were musicians leaving the Louvre after a late-night rehearsal, preparing for some grand performance.

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“There’s something wrong with The Creation of Adam,” murmured the Louvre’s curator, her voice taut with unease.

Stepping closer, she noticed a faint gap—barely fifteen millimetres—between the frame and the canvas. She wheeled over the giant magnifying lens mounted on its trolley and peered through it, her breath catching in disbelief.

“My Goodness…” she whispered. “It’s a replica. A replica of a replica.”

Her heart sank. “They must have replaced it the very night of the heist.”

Creation of Adam – by Michelangelo. An unknown contemporary artist did the painting for the Louvre Museum. The Creation of Adam is a fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope, in Vatican City. Credit: Pixabay.

From the author’s sketchbook. Michelangelo (1475 – 1564). Worked till the day of his death – aged 88.

Video: Details of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling.

Quantum Computer:

Close-up of the sketch from the author’s notebook. Quantum computers operate at frigid temperatures (20 mK = – 273 degrees Celsius). See the interesting article by the author to see the full sketch with annotations. Link to the blog post: 

In the Ice Cold Belly of the Golden Dragon, it Rumbles, Spins, and Twirls. Light Atoms Spark and Flash – the almost Frozen Creature is at Work.