Work of art deliberately vandalised
Michelangelo’s beautiful Pietà, a marble sculpture of the
Virgin Mary with the dead body of Jesus lying across her knees, was damaged by a man wielding a hammer on this day in 1972 in Rome.
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| The attacker is dragged away from the statue after damaging the famous sculpture |
A mentally disturbed man walked into St Peter’s Basilica and
attacked the sculpture in an act of deliberate vandalism.
He struck it 15 times, removing Mary’s arm at the elbow,
knocking off a chunk of her nose and chipping one of her eyelids.
Some of the pieces of marble that flew off were taken by
some of the people who were in the church at the time and Mary’s nose had to be
reconstructed from a block cut out of her back.
The man who carried out the attack was said to be suffering from a delusion that he was Jesus Christ risen from the dead. He was not charged with any crime but spent two years in a psychiatric hospital.
After the restoration work was completed the sculpture was
returned to its place in St Peter’s, just to the right of the entrance, and it
is now protected by a bulletproof acrylic glass panel.
Michelangelo carved this sculpture from a single piece of
Carrara marble in 1499 when he was only 24 and it is the only work he ever
signed.
Travel tip:
St Peter’s Square, Piazza San Pietro, was designed by
Bernini to provide a large space where the faithful, from all over the world,
could gather together. It is filled to capacity by pilgrims and visitors on
Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and other important religious occasions when the
Pope appears to address the crowd. These events are televised and watched by
viewers all over the world.
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| The Basilica of St Peter in Rome |
Travel tip:
The stunning Renaissance Basilica of St Peter was completed
and consecrated in 1626. Believed to be the largest church in the world, it was
built to replace the original fourth century Basilica that had been constructed
on what was believed to be the burial site of Saint Peter.
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