With the 8th Earl of Elgin, son of the Parthenon marbles felon, overseeing proceedings, they looted countless treasures, including the empress’s dog. This was later given to Queen Victoria and renamed “Looty,” which sounds like a storyline from Blackadder but did actually happen. Items from the summer palace still occasionally pop up in auctions and museums in Europe, such as one of the fabled twelve zodiacal heads from one of the palace’s fountains, which was owned by Yves Saint Laurent and put up for auction after his death.
