“Demanded to see the Pope”. Well, that’s a strong sense of self importance. Being able to talk to CEO’s of very large organizations (or heads of state) at the drop of a hat.
I don't think people commenting here understand that this is not a new problem, and that the precious things they've viewed in museums over the years have in some cases (many of which were never made public) been lovingly repaired after acts of vandalism.
The virtual tour (copied from the Boing Boing coverage) shows how much more damage the tourist could have done. Two busts damaged was relatively cheap.
Without knowing what the physical space looks like I'd rather we just not arrange valuable artwork like sculptures where tourists can easily damage or even touch them. People are dumb, tourists are a even dumber subset of people, you're asking for it if you don't properly secure the artwork.
Throwing these people in prison won't make tourists smarter it'll just put them in prison at the public's expense.
And before someone comes back about how this devalues appreciation of art of whatever, I obviously mean secure the artwork to a reasonable degree. Especially in places known for MASSIVE crowds like the Vatican. God isn't exactly jumping out of his seat to protect them.
"I'd rather we just not arrange valuable artwork like sculptures where tourists can easily damage or even touch them."
Interestingly, to quote the article itself:
"Mountain Butorac, who leads pilgrimages to the Vatican and who often visits the Museo Chiaramonti, said: 'One of the beautiful things is that it allows the visitors to get literally face to face with these ancient sculptures. My fear is that with behavior like this, barriers could be put in place.'"
It does because there have been instances where some countries are fed up of tourists from specific countries.
This is primarily due to cultural differences and presumptions that absence of law-enforcement(e.g. if there is no security guard at a gate, it is ok to go inside) means it is legal to do something stupid.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 41.5 ms ] threadIts actions like this that result in the rest of us only being able to view artifacts like these from afar, behind plexiglass. What a shame.
That will not happen.
> "The 2 busts have been damaged but not particularly badly. One lost part of a nose and an ear, the head of the other came off the pedestal."
So fortunately the busts were not obliterated into a bunch of pieces like the image I had in my head when I read the word "smashed".
It might underplay the damage though, depending on your context
I was afraid they might be little terra-cotta sculptures, and that can really shatter.
https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collez...
Throwing these people in prison won't make tourists smarter it'll just put them in prison at the public's expense.
And before someone comes back about how this devalues appreciation of art of whatever, I obviously mean secure the artwork to a reasonable degree. Especially in places known for MASSIVE crowds like the Vatican. God isn't exactly jumping out of his seat to protect them.
It was not a bust of Cesar or something like that.
https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collez...
Interestingly, to quote the article itself:
"Mountain Butorac, who leads pilgrimages to the Vatican and who often visits the Museo Chiaramonti, said: 'One of the beautiful things is that it allows the visitors to get literally face to face with these ancient sculptures. My fear is that with behavior like this, barriers could be put in place.'"
This is primarily due to cultural differences and presumptions that absence of law-enforcement(e.g. if there is no security guard at a gate, it is ok to go inside) means it is legal to do something stupid.
Not sure it matters... but it does complicate the usual "Americans behaving badly abroad" narrative.