As an undergrad, in college, in Boston, freshman year Western Civ was a requirement. Our prof was a Sister of Notre Dame who was a firecracker of a teacher. She took us on a field trip to the MFA .... and at that time, this magnificent tiny singular artifact was housed in a square, pillar like display case.
She gathered us all, asked us to surround it, and she started talking about the Etruscans and their devotion to gods, blah...blah....and without warning, took her elbow and banged the case ....the little chariot swung on its hook and she exclaimed *LOOK! ISN’T IT WONDERFUL!?!**
We all gasped! It was quite a surreal moment that this very *proper* nun would do such as rascally thing. :)
Funny you say *heist* ....the MFA is within spitting distance from the Isabelle Gardner Museum...where one of the most mysterious art *heists* evah occurred.
I love the MFA. Between my first visit (hmm, probably late 1970s?) and my second visit (hmm, probably mid-1980s) all those marvelous colossal 4th dynasty statues and sculptures from Giza had been surrounded by those thick velvet ropes. It didn’t stop the feral larvae from climbing all over them, of course.