Vandal attacks art in St Mark's Square
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A vandal with a mallet and an obsession with smashing stone hands has galvanised Venice into frightened awareness of the vulnerability of its priceless heritage.
A vandal with a mallet and an obsession with smashing stone hands has galvanised Venice into frightened awareness of the vulnerability of its priceless heritage.
The attacker has now struck three times since being spotted at 10.30pm on Saturday , standing on a rubbish bin in St Mark's Square and swinging his hammer at one of the intricately worked capitals on the face of the cathedral. The piazza was still crowded with visitors but it took an art-loving vendor with a push cart to raise the alarm and give chase, unsuccessfully. He described the man as in his 50s and wearing a T-shirt and jeans.
The man succeeded in smashing the first of the 36 capitals, sadly one of the few that are original, breaking the hands of the figure and the mosaic tablets of the law which were held in them.
On Giudecca island, to the south, carvings of St Mark and St Francis stand in niches outside the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer. Three of the four hands of the figures were amputated. Then yesterday it was discovered that the sculpture of St Peter outside the Church of San Pietro di Castello, on the island of the same name in the east of the city, had been disfigured in the same way. The sculpture depicts St Peter receiving a key from the Holy Infant, cradled in the arms of the Virgin Mary.
Police believe the same person is responsible for all three incidents. They are the first such acts of vandalism in living memory in Venice, but other parts of Italy have grown wearily familiar with lunatics with hammers. In the most infamous case, in 1991 a deranged artist named Piero Cannata launched a ferocious assault on Michelangelo's David in Florence, breaking one of its toes. Other victims in the past three decades include Michelangelo's Pieta , inside the Vatican's basilica, which was struck by a Hungarian refugee.
Venice's Superintendent for Environmental and Architectonic Assets, Giorgio Rossini, said: "We will consider a new strategy to reinforce surveillance. But I am sure this is only the isolated act of an unbalanced person."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments