Churchill’s iconic photo was stolen months ago and no one noticed

It took months for anyone to discover it. The iconic portrait of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, Canada, has been stolen and replaced with a copy. Last week, a hotel employee noticed that the picture frame was misaligned and not the same as the other five pictures in the room, all taken by the famous Canadian-Armenian photographer Youssef Karsh.

Perhaps one of the most talked about images of the 20th century: Churchill without a cigar. After the then-Prime Minister refused to dispose of his cigar for the 1941 selfie, Karsch removed it from his mouth with his hands. I provided the photographer with his most famous photo, which was later used, among other things, to note her weight of 5 pounds.

To find out how long it has been since the photo was stolen, the hotel asked visitors to submit photos of the room. Photos collected show that the original was last hung in a hotel reading room about eight months ago. hotel manager He showed the photo to guests almost daily during that time, but they never noticed the scam.