Boston Company's Virtual Reality App Returns Stolen Paintings To Gardner Museum

BOSTON (CBS) - They were stolen decades ago and never recovered, but you can now see some priceless pieces of art at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

A Boston company called Cuseum has created an experimental app that uses augmented reality to place missing pieces of artwork back in their frames.

It all happens through the screen of a tablet or phone. The project, called Hacking the Heist, works when you aim your device at the spaces where the paintings should be. The images appear on your screen as if they were actually on the wall.

For now, the app only displays a few of the paintings, which have been missing for 28 years. Cuseum says they're planning on adding more.

Back on March 18, 1990, thieves broke into the Gardner Museum and stole 13 pieces of art. Those empty frames have remained on the walls ever since.