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On Wednesday, October 5, a man who was reportedly in a state of agitation threw down two 2,000-year-old Roman busts in the Chiaramonti Gallery of the Vatican Museums. This gallery is a long corridor lined with statues and busts. 

The man was an American tourist of Egyptian origin, about 60 years old, who had been in Rome for three days. Before the Vatican Gendarmerie handed him over to the Italian police for questioning, he said he wanted to see the Pope. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Reports say the marble base of a bust was shattered, and the two faces were slightly damaged. The sculptures were immediately transferred to the Stone Materials Restoration Laboratory of the Vatican Museums.

Representatives of the museum have confirmed that the busts are “minor works.” The cost to repair the busts is estimated at $16,500, and it will take between 300 and 350 hours of work to repair them. It is unlikely that they will return to the condition they were in before the incident.

Vatican City contains religious sites, like St. Peter’s Basilica, as well as the Vatican Museums, all of which tourists can visit. It is a city-state with its own police force, called the Vatican Gendarmerie.

Six million tourists visited the Vatican Museums each year before the pandemic. Museums were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic but reopened to visitors after the pandemic improved. Concerns have been raised about the institution’s security as visitor numbers begin to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The most famous attack on Vatican works of art took place in 1972 when a Hungarian man jumped over the side altar in St. Peter’s Basilica and began to strike Michelangelo’s statue of the Pietà with a heavy hammer. He knocked off the Virgin Mary’s left hand, part of the nose, and the veil. The statue was then placed behind safety glass. 

In 2010, the Holy Stairs, Scala Santa, were graffitied by anti-pope vandals. The stairs are one of the most significant places of pilgrimage in the world.

Interestingly, the word “vandal” has its roots in the sacking of ancient Rome in 455. This is when the Vandal Kingdom descended on Rome, ransacking the city and damaging the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus by removing the bronze roof tiles. Ancient monuments, landmarks, and art around the city are continuously under attack by vandals.

Vandalism is so common across the city that the Italian Carabinieri, or police officers, have a targeted anti-vandalism patrol to try to control the problem. Pincio Hill, the viewpoint in Villa Borghese overlooking Piazza del Popolo, is one of the hot spots for art crime in the city, where marble statues of famous Italians are defaced with graffiti and attacked with hammers. 

The Trevi Fountain has been damaged by red dye thrown into its waters.  Another violent act of vandalism occurred in 2011 when a man attacked one of the 19th-century Moor statues in Piazza Navona with a rock, causing huge damage. 

Of course, there are still plenty of beautiful, intact pieces of art and other attractions to see in Rome.

For more information on traveling to Rome, check out one of these articles:

Beth honed her writing skills during 40+ years of writing and marketing for professional services companies. Now, as a retiree, she enjoys writing about and visiting beautiful places. She is especially passionate about national parks and seashores, wildlife preservation, animal rescue, art, and history.