Story By: Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
Newsflash/@ItalyForUs
This is the moment an outraged visitor to the Vatican films a famous fresco by Renaissance artist Raphael that has apparently had two female names and the name of a Ukrainian city scratched into it by vandals.
The incident was filmed in the Raphael Rooms in the Vatican located in Vatican City and the footage was shared online by the Facebook group ‘Italy for Me’ where it has been viewed 110,000 times.
The footage shows three words scratched into a famous fresco: “Lena, Tamara, Vinnitsa.”
The names are both female while Vinnitsa, also written as Vinnytsia, is a city in west-central Ukraine.
The cameraperson says: “I don’t normally swear, but this is… I can’t even find the words for this. Why would you (Lena and Tamara) do this? It is so horrible, such barbaric actions.”
It is unclear whether the local authorities are investigating the matter.
The four Raphael Rooms, a suite of reception rooms that form part of the Vatican Museums, are famous for their frescoes, painted by Raphael and his workshop.
The Stanze, as they are commonly called, were originally intended as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II. He commissioned Raphael, then a relatively young artist from Urbino, in 1508 or 1509 to redecorate the existing interiors.
Netizen ‘Sergei Ver’ said: “They should be banned from travelling in the EU for doing this.”
‘Liudmila Plotnikova’ wrote: “Degenerates.”
‘Rimma Khabarova’ commented: “Vandals.”
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