American tourist breaks the finger off a 600-year-old statue in Italy

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wfgodot

wfgodot

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Why American Tourists Aren't Exactly Welcomed With Open Arms, Pt. 968,203:

American Tourist Breaks Finger Off 600-Year-Old Italian Statue. (Gawker)
There are a few basic rules in museums. The first, and most important, is: don't touch the art. Unfortunately, that's just what one 55-year-old American tourist from Missouri did during a recent a recent visit to Florence's Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. The result? A 600-year-old statue lost a finger.

The man was reportedly measuring his hand next to the late 14th century piece of art when he touched the statue's finger, causing it to break off.

"We are sure that the damage was caused by the American tourist because the work has recently returned from the exhibition at the Uffizi Golden Flashes, where it was exposed, and then on its return was carefully controlled,” the museum's head Timothy Verdon told the New York Daily News. “In a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten – that is, 'Do no touch the works.' "
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Click to expand...
more, with pictures, at the links

EXCLUSIVE: The American SURGEON who accidentally snapped finger off 600-
year-old statue in Florence museum (you'd have thought he'd be better with his hands!). (Daily Mail)
 
:facepalm:

Stuff like this is why many of us, when in Europe, dont correct folks if they assume I'm Canadian. :D
 
Note to self.....just kidding but that could soooo be me. I'll have to tell my family I was not in Italy
 
tgirl1130 said:
Note to self.....just kidding but that could soooo be me. I'll have to tell my family I was not in Italy
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BWHAAA! Too funny. I need to let mine know too..:floorlaugh::floorlaugh::floorlaugh:

That is a big Whoopsie!:scared::blushing:
 
You can see by the pin that someone else broke it before -- it was probably loose. :angel:
 
Phewww, So glad some find this funny because if I was Italy , standing beside that statue, I'd yell to my dh, hon take a pic of me while I hold onto this statue.....snap. :floorlaugh:
 
That reminds me of a friend of mine who was selling his great great uncles antique statues. They were around 300 yrs old ,as he was doing his selling pitch one of the fingers just fell off one of them and when he unwrapped the other one the nose was coming off. I was trying not to laugh but it wasn't easy. For some reason Michael Jackson popped into my mind. I watched the price negotiations going down and down until he had to call the deal off. He took them to a professional to have them refurbished. It ended up costing him more to fix the darn things than what they were worth. I don't know if he ended up selling them or not, but I wouldn't touch them with a ten ft. pole. It's a shame because they were beautiful. Were, being the operative word here.
 
I don't care about his nationality but it's funny that he's a surgeon...


What's with the measuring thing?

I mean, so you measure and compare and match and determine that your hand is bigger, smaller, the same size as a random old work of art. Then what?
 
Ironically, we were just in Italy in June and while at St. Peter's Basilica, our guide encouraged us (especially my children) to place our hands alongside of the statues (specifically the cherubs) to show the size differences. Thank God we didn't break anything!
 
For hilarious accounts of the foibles of both tourists and natives of the countries they visit, Twain's 'The Innocents Abroad' is hard to beat.

He did sound the stereotyping keynote for natives of the U.S., touring overseas, when he wrote,
"We were troubled a little at dinner to-day, by the conduct of an American, who talked very loudly and coarsely. and laughed boisterously when all others were so quiet and well behaved. He ordered wine with a royal flourish...."
Click to expand...
Like it or not, for better or worse, the image has lasted.
 
wfgodot said:
For hilarious accounts of the foibles of both tourists and natives of the countries they visit, Twain's 'The Innocents Abroad' is hard to beat.

He did sound the stereotyping keynote for natives of the U.S., touring overseas, when he wrote,

Like it or not, for better or worse, the image has lasted.
Click to expand...

One of my favorite books!
Twain and his companions [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]loved teasing their guides: [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]There is one remark (already mentioned,) which never yet has failed to disgust these guides. We use it always, when we can think of nothing else to say. After they have exhausted their enthusiasm pointing out to us and praising the beauties of some ancient bronze image or broken-legged statue, we look at it stupidly and in silence for five, ten, fifteen minutes--as long as we can hold out, in fact--and then ask:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Is--is he dead?"[/FONT]
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The Innocents Abroad on-line: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/mtwain/bl-mtwain-innocents-1.htm
 
One of my favorite descriptions of we U.S.-ers in another land is from WWII when GIs arrived in England to train and ready themselves for the invasion of the continent.

Our boys were paid much better than the English troops. And we were, and are, not a timid people.

The British phrase for these foreigners on their soil was that we were "overpaid, over-sexed, and over here!"
 
STEADFAST said:
You can see by the pin that someone else broke it before -- it was probably loose. :angel:
Click to expand...

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/0...old-statue-at-italian-museum/?test=latestnews

The finger was not the statue's original.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/tourist-snaps-600-year-old-statue-finger-article-1.1418763

"We are sure that the damage was caused by the American tourist because the work has recently returned from the exhibition at the Uffizi Golden Flashes, where it was exposed, and then on its return was carefully controlled," said Verdon.

bbm
 
I'm flabbergasted that anyone would handle an exhibit in a museum, unless said exhibit it specifically for that purpose! :banghead: I took my son to the zoo the other day, and shook my head and said "No sweetie, don't do that" to the little girl crouched down poking a turtle's head with a long piece of bark and then reaching her arm through the bars to touch it's head. My son and I walked on and not 1 minute later I heard her mother call to another of her children, as SHE HERSELF is crouched down poking at the turtle, "LOOK! Come touch it's head!" Never a zookeeper around when you need one. People are amazingly ignorant, and she's training her children to have the same lack of respect and common sense. I hope this guy has to pay for the restoration of the piece.
 
Donjeta said:
I don't care about his nationality but it's funny that he's a surgeon...


What's with the measuring thing?

I mean, so you measure and compare and match and determine that your hand is bigger, smaller, the same size as a random old work of art. Then what?
Click to expand...

I could see comparing your hand if you are a gyno, not sure what diff it makes compared to a statue tho. lol
 
wfgodot said:
One of my favorite descriptions of we U.S.-ers in another land is from WWII when GIs arrived in England to train and ready themselves for the invasion of the continent.

Our boys were paid much better than the English troops. And we were, and are, not a timid people.

The British phrase for these foreigners on their soil was that we were "overpaid, over-sexed, and over here!"
Click to expand...

They need to add "and thank God" And over worked IMO.
 
Everyone may find this hilarious but look at the investigation and take down of a woman for throwing green paint on an American icon and other such places, I find this a little disrespectful IMO
 
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