Tourist Posing For Photo Damages 19th Century Italian Sculpture
Tourist Breaks Priceless Sculpture's Toes ... While Striking a Pose
Here's what happens when doing it for the 'Gram goes wrong -- a tourist in Italy damaged a 200-year-old sculpture while posing for a pic.
The tourist, who hails from Austria, snapped off several toes from a 19th-century plaster model by Italian sculptor Antonio Canova while sitting on the display and trying to mimic the pose for a photo op.
The incident happened last week at the Gypsotheca Antonio Canova museum in northern Italy, and video shows the tourist standing up to discover the damage before getting the hell outta Dodge.
The museum claims the tourist bounced without alerting anyone to the damage, and a museum official noticed the broken toes a few minutes after it happened and sounded the alarm.
Italian police reportedly tracked down the tourist, thanks in part to the pandemic. Museum visitors must sign in and leave personal info for potential contact tracing, and that's how police found him.
The tourist's wife reportedly burst into tears when contacted by cops and admitted her husband was the culprit, and the man has since confessed and apologized for the gaffe.
An Italian court is reportedly weighing whether to press charges, and the president of the Antonio Canova Foundation wants the tourist punished.
The good news ... the artwork's marble version is housed in a gallery in Rome and has, so far, remained undamaged by photo-hungry tourists.
