Missing Pieces

King John with his unsteady crown, from Matthew Paris’ Chronicle of England, c.1250. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

King John’s Lost Treasure

The loss of his treasure on the road to war was said to have brought about King John’s demise. What happened to it?

The lost panel of the Just Judges from the Ghent Altarpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, photograph by Max Friedländer. RKD Netherlands Institute of Art History. Public Domain.

The Theft of the Ghent Altarpiece

When a priceless altarpiece was stolen from a Belgian cathedral it sparked a 90-year hunt. The crime remains unsolved.

Sabbatai Sevi, engraving from a 17th-century etching, from Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia, 1910-13. Public Domain.

Sabbatai Sevi: The Lost Messiah

In the 17th century news spread that the Jewish messiah had finally arrived. Within a year he had converted to Islam. Who was he, and what had happened?

Soviet poet and novelist Boris Pasternak, 1930s. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images.

Pasternak and Stalin: What Was Said?

A short telephone call between Joseph Stalin and Boris Pasternak sealed the fate of a fellow writer. What exactly transpired during that fateful discussion remains subject to debate.

Madonna of the Meadow (Madonna with the Christ Child and Saint John the Baptist), by Raphael, 1506. Art Library/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Lost Years of Jesus

Did Jesus have a difficult childhood? Was his youth spent in Egypt or England, India or Japan? The four canonical gospels are quiet on his early life, leading some to speculate.

The Bruneri-Canella Case

The curious case of an apparent amnesiac in Collegno paved the way for forensic science to become one of the pillars of Italian law.

‘Strange hieroglyphs’: rongorongo inscription, Easter Island. George Holton/Science Photo Library

The Lost Script of Rapa Nui

Attempts to decipher the lost script once used by the Rapa Nui of Easter Island leave more questions than answers.

Percy Fawcett on an expedition in South America, c.1910. GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo.

Percy Fawcett and the Lost City

First Tenochtitlán, then Cuzco, then Machu Picchu – why shouldn’t cities paved with gold be discovered in South America? At least Percy Fawcett believed so.