The famous Mona Lisa, aka Gioconda, is perhaps the most famous canvas in the world. Its value is simply enormous, and not only because it was created by the great painter Leonardo da Vinci, but also because over the past centuries the picture has acquired a long history. Many art critics are still trying to find unsolved riddles in it.
Since cracks appeared in the painting due to its considerable age, it no longer leaves the museum and is no longer given to exhibitions. Due to the fact that over the past centuries, the colors with which Mona Lisa was painted darkened, the picture itself also became darker than it was originally. In the Louvre, the largest museum in the world where Mona Lisa is stored, a separate room is allocated for her. There are no other exhibits in it. The original of the Mona Lisa was cropped. People learned about this purely by accident when they discovered an ancient copy of the picture, without cropped edges. Mona Lisa, more precisely, the lady depicted in the picture, does not have eyebrows. They actually were, but during one of the restorations they were accidentally damaged.
At one time, the Mona Lisa was kept in the chambers of Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France. But later he ordered the priceless painting to be returned to the Louvre. A little over a century ago, in 1911, Mona Lisa was abducted from the museum. The search for the canvas was carried out for two years, and in the end it was still found. Being insured for 3 billion US dollars, the Mona Lisa is the most expensive painting in the world. Over the past time, different people have tried many times to spoil Mona Lisa, throwing various objects at her and even dousing them with acid. Now it is stored behind heavy-duty armored glass.
Leonardo da Vinci redrawn Mona Lisa at least two times. One of the theories among art historians says that the Mona Lisa is a kind of self-portrait of da Vinci, but in a female image. The truth is that no one still reliably knows what kind of woman is depicted in the Mona Lisa painting. Gioconda was written at the beginning of the XVI century. Her age has already exceeded five hundred years. Its correct and full name is “Portrait of Madame Lisa Giocondo”. The Louvre administration has spent € 7 million to install security systems that protect Mona Lisa from kidnappers and other intruders.
