<P> In 1911, Peruggia perpetrated what has been described as the greatest art theft of the 20th century . It was a police theory that the former Louvre worker hid inside the museum on Sunday, August 20, knowing the museum would be closed the following day . But, according to Peruggia's interrogation in Florence after his arrest, he entered the museum on Monday, August 21 around 7 am, through the door where the other Louvre workers were entering . He said he wore one of the white smocks that museum employees customarily wore and was indistinguishable from the other workers . When the Salon Carré, where the Mona Lisa hung, was empty, he lifted the painting off the four iron pegs that secured it to the wall and took it to a nearby service staircase . There, he removed the protective case and frame . Some people report that he concealed the painting (which Leonardo painted on wood) under his smock . But Peruggia was only 5'3 ", and the Mona Lisa measures approx. 21" x 30 ", so it would not fit under a smock worn by someone his size . Instead, he said he took off his smock and wrapped it around the painting, tucked it under his arm, and left the Louvre through the same door he had entered . </P> <P> Peruggia hid the painting in his apartment in Paris . Supposedly, when police arrived to search his apartment and question him, they accepted his alibi that he had been working at a different location on the day of the theft . </P> <P> After keeping the painting hidden in a trunk in his apartment for two years, Peruggia returned to Italy with it . He kept it in his apartment in Florence, Italy but grew impatient, and was finally caught when he contacted Alfredo Geri, the owner of an art gallery in Florence . Geri's story conflicts with Peruggia's, but it was clear that Peruggia expected a reward for returning the painting to what he regarded as its "homeland". Geri called in Giovanni Poggi, director of the Uffizi Gallery, who authenticated the painting . Poggi and Geri, after taking the painting for "safekeeping", informed the police, who arrested Peruggia at his hotel . After its recovery, the painting was exhibited all over Italy with banner headlines rejoicing its return and then returned to the Louvre in 1913 . </P> <P> Peruggia was released from jail after a short time and served in the Italian army during World War I. He later married, had one daughter, Celestina, returned to France, and continued to work as a painter decorator using his birth name Pietro Peruggia . </P>

Where was the mona lisa found after it was stolen