History Main / MonumentalTheft

* The Paris level of ''VideoGame/GaiaAttack4'' sees the titular team preventing alien saucers from stealing the Eiffel Tower, by shooting saucers trying to lift the Tower's four corners via TractorBeam and destroying as many saucers as possible until the aliens retreat. [[spoiler:It works, but in the succeeding cutscene the boss saucer then [[MonumentalDestruction crashes into the Tower's side and blows it up]]. [[ShaggyDogStory Oops]].]]

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Room The Amber Room]] of Tsarskoe Selo, Saint Petersburg. Originally constructed in Prussia, and then presented by William I to UsefulNotes/PeterTheGreat as a gift. During the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII German invasion of Soviet Union]], German soldiers disassembled the Amber Room and relocated it in Königsberg (today Kaliningrad). Since Königsberg was heavily bombed towards the end of the war, the fate of the room is still unknown. In the 70s, the Soviet government decided to construct a replica.
* [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/07/pennsylvania-bridge-theft_n_1001124.html A bridge also went missing]] in North Beaver Township, Pennsylvania. A story just about made for [[https://www.youtube.com/user/TVsCraigFerguson?blend=1&ob=5#p/c/0EE4FC52DD92F112/0/eXfYPIw_iwQ late-night comedy]].

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Dendur Temple of Dendur]] is a subversion, as the Egyptian government actually gave it to the US in 1965 as thanks for helping to save several other archaeological sites in Egypt.[[note]]Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy each got a temple as well.[[/note]] The "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra%27s_Needle Cleopatra's Needle]]" obelisks in London and New York were also gifts from the Egyptian government (though at the time it was officially part of the Ottoman Empire).

As a way to prove their thieving credentials, the best ImpossibleTheft is to steal something '''''HUGE'''''.

* ''Series/Danger5''. The episode "I Danced For Hitler!" opens with ThoseWackyNazis using ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld to carry away the Eiffel Tower, causing despondent [[AmazonBrigade Frenchwomen]] to [[AteHerGun shoot themselves]] at the sight. They follow this up by stealing the Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal, Roman Coliseum, and the Sphinx statue in order to [[spoiler:build a giant statue of Hitler, for propaganda purposes]].

* ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' eventually allows you to develop a shrink ray. Afterward, it becomes a mission goal to steal the Eiffel Tower. The sequel downplays this- you’re allowed to steal the Statue of Liberty, but only her torch.

* A particular [[http://www.snopes.com/autos/theft/carthief.asp urban legend]] celebrates this type of thief: a man chains his shiny new car to the ground with padlocks in an effort to prevent it being stolen, and finds it the next morning still securely locked under the chains... but ''facing the opposite direction''. Inside the car is a note: ''"If we want it, we'll take it."''
* Depending on who you ask, several large archaeological artifacts, such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar_Gate Ishtar Gate]] in Berlin, were "stolen" by Western colonial governments. A downplayed example is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles Elgin Marbles]], where the British took the {{sculptures}} off the Parthenon, but left the building. Greece still wants them back.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'':

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has Snake steal the entire Kwik-E-Mart. "I'm taking this thing to Mexico!" It ''was'' left unguarded at the time.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe''

* Issac and Miria from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}!'' style themselves as Monumental Thieves. However, their ambition is offset by one simple fact: they are... [[CloudCuckoolander mentally interesting]]. (For example, they once attempted to steal all of History itself... by stealing the front step of a museum, rendering it impossible to enter. Another theft saw them attempt to steal from the very Earth itself... by mining for gold. For nine months. In a cave that had no prior history of ever yielding gold.)

* In ''Fanfic/{{Eye of the Storm|KisekiMa}}'', Greater Grail was stolen from a cave underneath the Ryuudou Temple on Mount Enzou and it was done in such a way that Rin didn't notice until she reached the cavern itself (although she was in England for a few years). It is worth noting that moving Greater Grail in ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'' was done with two zeppelins.

** In another episode, a crime boss captures Professor Nimnul and has his thugs use Nimnul's shrink ray to shrink the city's monuments so they can be held for ransom...with them being used as toys by his daughter in the meantime.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'', a crooked travel agent who ends up getting the same [[RubberMan elastic powers]] as Dale uses his abilities to steal all the world's monuments for ransom. When the Rangers investigate his travel agency, Dale thinks the models of the monuments on his desk were the real things miniaturized.
** Chip and Dale were once kidnapped by two thugs who have kidnapped and forced Professor Nimnul to use his shrink ray to shrink the city's monuments so their crime boss's daughter can have new toys.

* Objects stolen on ''Series/{{Banacek}}'' have included a 3-ton sculpture and an immobilized DC-8 jetliner.

* Depending on who you ask, several large archaeological artifacts, such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar_Gate Ishtar Gate]] in Berlin, were "stolen" by Western colonial governments. A downplayed example is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles Elgin Marbles]], where the British took the sculptures off the Parthenon, but left the building. Greece still wants them back.