US tourist damages two ancient busts in Vatican Museums

On October 5, 2022, a 50-year-old US tourist threw two ancient busts to the floor in the Chiaramonti Gallery of the Vatican Museums, damaging them. The man, reportedly seeking an audience with the Pope, was stopped by Vatican gendarmerie and handed over to Roman police. The busts—a veiled elderly portrait from the Augustan-late Republican period and a male bust possibly of a prince from Constantine's family—are part of a series of minor works on shelves. They were taken to the museum's marble restoration labs for analysis. Restoration is estimated to cost €15,000 and take 300–350 hours, with the works potentially never being the same. The Vatican, which recently installed a complex video surveillance system ahead of the 2025 Jubilee, expressed surprise at the incident.