Vatican Museums' visitor throws two busts to the ground

Two ancient busts of the Chiaramonti Gallery suffer slight damage after they were thrown down early Wednesday afternoon by an American tourist visiting the Vatican Museums, and were immediately brought into the restoration laboratories of the pontifical galleries.

On Wednesday, a man in a state of agitation threw down two ancient Roman busts preserved in the Chiaramonti Gallery of the Vatican Museums, which date back to the 1st century.

He was handed over by the Vatican Gendarmerie to the Italian police for questioning.

Reports say the man was an American tourist of Egyptian origin, about sixty years old, who had been in Rome for three days.

The marble base of a bust was shattered, while one ear and one nose of the two faces were slightly damaged.

The sculptures were immediately transferred to the Stone Materials Restoration Laboratory of the Vatican Museums.

Vatican News staff reporter
Source: vaticannews.va