VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A tourist who toppled two ancient Roman busts in the Vatican Museums has been handed over to Italian police, the Vatican said.

The vandalism occurred Oct. 5 when the tourist, identified by several Italian media outlets as an American man, threw down two marble busts from their pedestals in the museums' Chiaramonti gallery, which houses some 100 ancient busts and statues.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, told reporters that the man who "knocked down the statues was stopped by Vatican gendarmerie and handed over to Italian authorities."

The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported that the man knocked down the statues after his request to meet Pope Francis was denied. After vandalizing the busts, he was stopped by museum staff before being detained by the Vatican police.

According to the Reuters news agency, a source at the Vatican Museums said the man, who is believed to be in his 50s, "behaved strangely" before toppling the busts, which were reportedly some 2,000 years old.

The two ancient Roman busts were not severely damaged and were taken to the Vatican Museums' lab for repair, Reuters reported. One bust lost part of its nose and ear, while the other’s head broke off the pedestal.

According to the Washington Times, crimes committed in Vatican City are usually prosecuted and punished by Italy’s secular authorities at Vatican expense. Tourists have been particularly unruly in Rome over this summer.
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Prior to the COVID pandemic, Vatican museums received some six million visitors a year. As COVID restrictions lifted, tourists have been welcomed back in large numbers to the museums.  Sharing the news of the incident on Twitter, Elizabeth Lev, an art historian who offers tours of the Vatican Museums, wrote, “Tragically, our first great post-pandemic tourist season has been marred by irresponsible tourists.”

In June, a pair of American tourists thew an electric scooter down the Spanish Steps, causing more than $26,000 of damage to the landmark, while in another similar incident, a Saudi man drove his Maserati down the Spanish Steps, as well.

In July, a Canadian tourist was caught carving her name into the Colosseum.

Perhaps the most infamous incident occurred 50 years ago, in 1972, when a Hungarian man jumped over a side altar in St. Peter’s Basilica, attacking Michelangelo’s Pieta with a sledgehammer and knocking off the Madonna’s left arm, and chipping her nose and veil.

The attack left 100 fragments of the Pieta on the floor of the chapel where it was displayed. Restoration took 10 months. The Renaissance masterpiece now sits behind bulletproof glass where it continues to be viewed by millions of visitors annually.

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