No Decorum In The Forum

Tourists are often nothing more than ignorant, self absorbed tits .... who often seem to think that their being on holiday means that local laws and observances don't really count, and they are somehow immune from those matters.

Stereotypical American Tourist ...

When I was a much, much younger person, it was American tourists in the UK  or Europe who were lampooned in this manner, they were usually portrayed as wearing terrible clothes and talking down our culture, whilst talking up American 'culture.' 

Then came the Japanese, who walked around in very large groups with very good Nixon cameras, photographing everything in sight, whilst apparently not understanding anything they photographed.  

More recently its been the Chinese tourists replacing the Japanese as the large tour groups, ignoring local quarantine laws, and like their oriental Japanese brothers, not apparently understanding anything they photographed. Now before anyone says a word, let me put my hand up and freely admit that the British, especially but not exclusively, the under 30's, are notorious across southern Europe, and indeed elsewhere, for being little more than drunken oafs with no culture whatsoever .. and like all these stereotypes, there is undoubtedly a strong element of truth in this portrayal. 

I myself have cringed over some British citizens behaviours overseas, but I can offer the mitigation that a lot of the tourist trap resorts they go to, are hardly full of culture in the first place, and are geared up to accommodate the drinking habits of the Brits. In more culturally orientated locations, such as Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Istanbul, Paris and Pisa for example, the Brit tourists were entirely different and well behaved, with a high degree of sobriety and decorum while in the forum.

However there is one are that all tourists of all nationalities continually behave badly and that's the urge for 'Selfies' via the ubiquitous smartphone. There have been a number of examples of this resulting in works of art being seriously damaged by the apparently irresistible urge to take that selfie for social media posts. 

Austrian Tourist Selfie Accident

In July 2020, a rather rotund gentleman from Austria was sitting and leaning on a reclining statue at the Antonio Canova Museum in Possagno, Italy: His objective, to let his wife take a photo of him and the female subject together. The statue was a 200-year-old plaster cast copy of a famous statue, and therefore fragile .... When he got up, he spotted that he had broken off some of the toes, and he attempted to “reattach” the toes, but then gave up, and walked out of the room without saying a word. The man later confirmed his fault in a letter to the President of the Canova Foundation a couple of days later, and admitted to the “irresponsible behaviour,” and put himself at the museum’s disposal.

“I remain at complete disposal, it was irresponsible behaviour on my part, the consequences were unknown to me, so I normally continued the visit to the museum and the entire stay in Italy (I didn’t run away). During the visit I sat on the statue, without realising the damage I evidently caused. I ask you for information on the steps that are necessary on my part in this situation for me very unpleasant and for which, in the first place, I totally apologise.” 

Its not known how much the restoration costs he was liable for, but as it was plaster, the bill would probably not have been too eye watering.

Dom Sebastiao Smashed By Selfie Taker

While in May 2016, a selfie-snapping young man in Portugal toppled and smashed a 126-year-old statue to bits while trying to take a selfie with it. He had climbed up next to the statue of child-king Dom Sebastiao, which had been sitting atop its pedestal at the Rossio Railway Station in Lisbon for the previous 126 years. His aim was apparently to take a picture. But he knocked it over, smashing it to bits on the ground. He then jumped down and tried to flee the scene but was caught by the police and charged.

The Drunken Satyr Is Now Legless

Finally, in March 2014, a student reportedly broke a statue at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, in Milan, Italy. He climbed on the early 19th century of the “Drunken Satyr,” which was a copy of a Greek original (which is located at the Glyptotek in Munich), and broke the statue’s left leg, which fell off ... he was caught by security cameras. Whilst the student is in trouble, his luck was in, as the statue leg was already starting to come loose, and the statue was scheduled for restoration in any case. It as claimed to be of no significant value, although that might seem a lot to a student. 

The moral of this is that tourists are a dangerous blessing ... they bring much needed funds but also risk serious damage if let loose unsupervised.

Update: An Irish Tourist has been arrested for climbing and breaking a statue ....