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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerican Tourist Snaps Finger Off 600-Year-Old Statue in Florence Museum
Hoping to overcome the stereotype of the obnoxious, ignorant American abroad? An unidentified U.S. tourist who snapped a finger off a 600-year-old statue in an Italian museum hasnt helped the cause.
No, the tourist wasnt drunk, being belligerent, in a brawl, dangling from the statue wearing nothing but his skivvies or whatever other wild imagery your brain might conjure: The reportedly 55-year-old Missouri native was simply trying to measure the statues pinky finger, holding his own hand up to the statues outstretched one. But the museum like most museums that harbor centuries-old works of art has a no-touching rule that the tourist allegedly flouted, leading to the tragic act of digital disfigurement.
In a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten, that is, Do not touch the works, said museum head Timothy Verdon, via the NY Daily News, which reports that the tourist has since apologized and has been described as very disappointed.
The statue, dubbed Annunciazione and located in Florences Museo dellOpera del Duomo (Museum of the Works of the Cathedral), is of the Virgin Mary, by 15th century Florentine sculptor Giovanni dAmbrogio. Apparently the pinky finger wasnt original to the statue, having been made of plaster and added at a later point: The finger didnt snap off entirely at the time the act occurred, and restorers were able to remove it before it fell to the ground; theyll now work to reunite the statue with its missing digit.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/08/07/american-tourist-snaps-finger-off-600-year-old-statue-in-florence-museum/#ixzz2bJMf8gWq
My comment? In the name of all that's holy, keep Anthony Weiner and his smart phone away from Michelangelo's David, Praxiteles' Hermes and the infant Dionysus, Donatello's Bronze David or Rodin's The Vanquished.
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American Tourist Snaps Finger Off 600-Year-Old Statue in Florence Museum (Original Post)
Divernan
Aug 2013
OP
Don't touch means don't touch (except for me, I'm special. I'm only gonna...)
NightWatcher
Aug 2013
#5
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)1. Ugly Americans: The gift that keeps on giving nt
JustFiveMoreMinutes
(2,133 posts)2. Gorilla Glue. n/t.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)3. Stop touching stuff.
Please.
denverbill
(11,489 posts)4. Well, I doubt it was an American who busted the original finger anyway.
So we are probably even with the Italians on that score.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)5. Don't touch means don't touch (except for me, I'm special. I'm only gonna...)
People think they are special or the rules don't apply to them. They made that rule especially for the person who broke it.