CHICAGO - They are the world's most recognizable shoes, but have somehow evaded detection for 13 years since being stolen from a Minnesota museum.

But on Wednesday, the ruby-red slippers worn by Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" came home again.

US authorities announced they had recovered the famous sequined shoes - one of four pairs worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 American classic film.

The shoes were snatched in the dead of night in 2005 from a shattered glass case at the Judy Garland Museum in the late actress's birthplace of Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

A $1 million reward had been offered for their return. But the culprit and the fate of the shoes had remained a mystery.

Authorities shed little light on what happened to the shoes, telling reporters only that they had recovered the famous pair and that there were "multiple suspects."

They unveiled the shoes - which appeared to be in good condition - in a glass case.

The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington - which has another pair of Dorothy's slippers on display - authenticated the recovered pair.

"It's unbelievable," said Judy Garland Museum representative Sue Plagemann. "We never thought they'd be recovered. We thought they were lost forever." - AFP