An American tourist on Wednesday threw a tantrum and broke two Roman busts in the Vatican Museums after officials denied him an audience with Pope Francis.
The unidentified tourist, said to be in his fifties, was in the Chiaramonti Gallery when he asked to visit the pope. When told that he could not visit the pope, the tourist grabbed an ancient marble bust and threw it to the ground, damaging it.
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He then damaged another bust as he ran away from museum workers, who tried to capture him. The gendarmerie, which acts as police and security in the Vatican City, arrested the man, reported the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.
A man visits the Vatican Museums on the day they reopen after weeks of closure due to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the Vatican on May 3, 2021.
(Reuters / Remo Casilli)
“The person who demolished the statues was arrested by the gendarmes and handed over to the Italian authorities,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said following the incident.
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He also claimed that the busts were “minor jobs” and that the damage “was not significant” but that the accident was the act of an “unbalanced person”.
Pope Francis gives his blessing as he recites the midday Angelus prayer from his study window overlooking St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on September 20, 2020.
(Photo AP / Andrew Medichini)
“The faces have not suffered much damage, perhaps one of the two specimens has detached a piece of the nose,” the spokesperson noted, adding that experts will now examine the total damage and work immediately to restore the pieces.
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The incident “shocked” the Vatican, which had installed a “complex and sophisticated” video surveillance system to protect the works on display.
The Chiaramonti Museum, created under Pope Pius VII Chiaramonti, includes more than 1,000 busts, statues and sarcophagi, according to the National Catholic Register.
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Pope Francis greets and blesses the children assisted by the Vatican’s Santa Marta Pediatric Dispensary in the Paul VI Hall.
(Stefano Costantino / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images)
Rome has suffered a series of vandalism in recent months, including an American couple who threw their scooters at the Spanish Steps, causing damage estimated at € 25,000, according to La Repubblica.
