The European Fine Art Fair

NEW YORK - If you put the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a blender, you might end up with something like TEFAF New York.

One of the world's largest art fairs opened its doors on March 11 in the Netherlands, with organizers saying they have thrown a ring of steel around it after a brazen heist last year.

Until March 19, visitors at The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), will be able to view a treasure trove of the world's greatest artworks for sale in the southern city of Maastricht.

Flat-cap wearing armed robbers staged a brazen daylight raid on an international art fair in the Netherlands on June 28, smashing a jewelry case with a sledgehammer in front of terrified visitors.

If not for the pandemic, Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum would have missed out on a classic Dutch 16th-century painting it so badly craved.

Instead, the work now graces a central hall of one of the world's most famous cultural institutions -- all because of a wealthy dealer in old masters elected to pay a very unusual tribute to COVID-19 victims.