Open Post: Hosted By The Tourist Who Broke An Ancient Sculpture’s Toes And Ran Away
Some dumbass tourist managed to mess shit up in a museum in Italy, which makes me think that Italy should’ve never opened up their museums again after their coronavirus numbers dropped. Because tourists don’t know how to act. Case in point: One tourist decided to pose on a 200-year-old statue, which causes its toes to fall off. Two single tears just trickled down Quentin Tarantino’s face.
The Independent says an Austrian tourist decided to pose with the 19th-century “Paolina Borghese as Venus Victrix” sculpture at the Museo Antonio Canova in Possagno. Antonio Canova was a sculptor who was famous for his marble pieces. The sculpture in the museum is the original plaster cast model of the marble statue of Paolina Borghese which is housed in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.
CCTV shows the man hopping onto the statue to take a picture and realizing he’s broken something delicate. The man then leaves the museum without telling anyone. The museum posted about the incident to Facebook:
Nella giornata di ieri un turista austriaco si è seduto sulla scultura di Paolina Bonaparte provocando la rottura di due…
Posted by Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova on Saturday, August 1, 2020
Italian police told CNN the man “sprawled over the statue” and broke three toes off the right foot. Investigators said: “there could be further damage to the base of the sculpture that the museum experts still have to ascertain.” President of the Antonio Canova Foundation, Vittorio Sgarbi, demanded the tourist not “remain unpunished and return to his homeland. The scarring of a Canova is unacceptable.” The mayor of Possagno, Valerio Favero, also called for retribution, telling Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano:
“The really incredible thing is that he had not thought of reporting the incident. In my eyes, the fact of leaving the sculpture in that condition is criminal.”
The Italians are mad! This tourist is about to wake up with a marble statue’s head in bed next to him. Since there are tracking measures thanks to coronavirus, museum visitors are logged and police contacted the woman who signed into the museum and she “burst into tears” admitting her husband is guilty. Her husband also sent an apologetic email to the police:
“During the visit to the Museum of Possagno, I sat on the statue, without realizing the damage that I evidently caused. I apologize in every way.”
A court in Treviso will decide if charges will be pressed and the museum is planning to restore the sculpture’s toes.
I wonder if this is how Apollo Belvedere lost his penis? Some horny peasant got carried away.
Pic: YouTube