3 yıl önce

Man arrested after Mona Lisa smeared with cake at Louvre

The man, who dressed as an old woman on a wheelchair to smear the renowned painting with cake, was placed in psychiatric care.

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The painting, which has been the target of vandalism attempts in the past, was unharmed thanks to its case.

A 36-year-old man has been arrested and placed in psychiatric care after he has smeared a glass screen encasing the Mona Lisa with cake, in a purported protest against artists not focusing enough on "the planet".

The bulletproof glass case containing the treasured work by Leonardo da Vinci was smeared with cake on Sunday by a man dressed as an old lady on a wheelchair.

A Twitter user identified as Lukeee posted a video showing a museum employee wiping a mess off the glass and another showing a man dressed in white being escorted away by security guards.

"A man dressed as an old lady jumps out of a wheelchair and attempted to smash the bulletproof glass of the Mona Lisa. Then proceeds to smear cake on the glass and throws roses everywhere, all before being tackled by security", Lukeee wrote.

Speaking French, the man says: "There are people who are destroying the Earth... All artists, think about the Earth. That's why I did this. Think of the planet."

The painting, which has been the target of vandalism attempts in the past, was unharmed thanks to its case.

Visitor to Louvre Museum in Paris attacks the world-famous Mona Lisa with a cake pic.twitter.com/XjSwNJbd1F
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) May 30, 2022

'An attempt to vandalise a cultural work'

Officials at the Louvre Museum in Paris, where the enigmatic portrait holds pride of place, declined to comment on the bizarre incident on Sunday.

No image have emerged showing the actual incident.

An inquiry into "an attempt to vandalise a cultural work" has been opened, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Monday.

The Mona Lisa has been behind glass since a Bolivian man threw a rock at the painting in December 1956, damaging her left elbow.

In 2005, it was placed in a reinforced case that also controls temperature and humidity.

In 2009, a Russian woman threw an empty teacup at the painting, which slightly scratched the case.

The Louvre is the largest museum in the world, housing hundreds of thousands of works that attracted some 10 million visitors a year before the Covid-19 pandemic.

SOURCE: AFP