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Vandals cut off head of Legion of Honor’s Greek statue

2 mins read

This week, extreme damages were seen on the Greek statue standing in the Legion of Honor grounds, sparking indignation and confusion as the statue at one of the oldest museums in San Francisco has been vandalized.

The loss left curators and community members reflecting its value, ABC7 reported.

“Oh my God, who would do this?” John Ringlemann, who was in disbelief, said. The Greek statue is not new to Ringlemann who passes by the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco almost every day. One thing changed in his daily view – the marble sculpture was destroyed.

“I don’t know who these people are or what their end goal is, but this is a shame,” he said.

Vandalism is also considered a huge setback to museum curators.

Vandals remove heads from statue at SF’s Legion of Honor Museum

“This is really sad, this is a loss to the museum and people of San Francisco because this is a piece of art that’s been vandalized wantonly,” Martin Chapman, Legion of Honor European Arts and Sculpture Curator, said.

The two sons of Greek God Laocoon have lost their heads to vandals, and its leg also has damages, Chapman said. Unfortunately, life copies art here.

“It shows the god struggling with serpents and his sons, not a happy subject matter,” Chapman said.

The sculpture, a reproduction of one in the Vatican, was provided to the museum in 1930.

San Francisco police are already investigating the crime, according to curators.

But the exterior cameras of the museum were not able to catch the crime as it happened.

Other statues in the same location, like the Joan of Arc, were left without any damage.

“It doesn’t have any political significance, just beautiful art,” Ringlemann said.

While repair is possible, curators said it will be hard.

“What we would like to do is recover the missing parts most essential and restore the object,” Chapman said.

The public’s help is called to identify the vandals.

They hope a tip from the public could help solve the crime, a true Greek tragedy.

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