World War II · Film · 2014
The Monuments Men
A team of middle-aged museum curators and art historians follows the front across Europe to rescue masterpieces stolen by the Nazis before they are destroyed or vanish forever.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 6 places.
Stop 1: Normandy
The team lands on the Normandy beaches weeks after D-Day and discovers that frontline commanders have little time for art.
Stop 2: Jeu de Paume museum, Paris
In liberated Paris, Granger tries to win the trust of Claire Simone, the curator who watched the Nazis carry off France's art.
Stop 3: Church of Our Lady, Bruges
Jeffries slips into occupied Bruges alone to protect Michelangelo's Madonna before the retreating Germans can take it.
Stop 4: Merkers salt mine
Deep in a mine the team finds treasure beyond imagining, including the gold of the Reich itself.
Stop 5: Neuschwanstein Castle
Following Claire's lists, the team reaches the fairy-tale castle where the Nazis stored looted French collections.
Stop 6: Altaussee salt mine, Austria
Key location
Racing the Red Army and a Nazi order to destroy everything, the team digs into a blasted mine hoping the masterpieces survived.
What really happened
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section was a small Allied unit of about 345 men and women from 14 nations who protected historic buildings in the war zones and tracked down art looted by the Nazis. The film adapts Robert M. Edsel's book, and its characters are thinly veiled versions of real officers such as George Stout, James Rorimer and the French curator Rose Valland.
In April 1945 US troops found the Reichsbank's gold reserves and artworks in the Merkers salt mine, and in May they reached the salt mine at Altaussee in Austria, which held thousands of stolen works, including the Ghent Altarpiece and Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges; Austrian miners had helped thwart the local Nazi leader's plan to blow it up. The real British officer Ronald Balfour was killed near Kleve in Germany, not in Bruges.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- The Monuments Men
- Directed by
- George Clooney
- Countries
- United States, Germany
- Languages
- English, German, French
- Released
- 2014
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Western Europe
- Themes
- True story
