The story isn't what this guy did, or where he's from. The story is in why he wanted to see the pope.
American tourist smashes two sculptures in the Vatican
31–34 of 34 posts
Re: American tourist smashes two sculptures in the Vatican
#32What are repercussions for this act? I.e. what will the tourist be charged with? Simple vandalism seems way too lenient.
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 s…
"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.'"
Re: American tourist smashes two sculptures in the Vatican
#33According to other reports, he was an Egyptian living in America. His citizenship status wasn't reported. Not sure it matters... but it does complicate the usual "Americans behaving badly abroad" narrative.
Quoted post unavailable.
The comment doesn't appear flagged. That said I can't find any source to back up the man being Egyptian, much less Muslim.
Re: American tourist smashes two sculptures in the Vatican
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Its actions like this that result in the rest of us only being able to view artifacts like these from afar, behind plexiglass. That will not happen.
You're right. We won't be able to view them at all.
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.