Colosseum vandalism.

Juliet 27 , that has made me smile this morning 😊

Callistemon21

Juliet27

it is the kind of thing a small child might do, like scribbling on the wall-paper

Apparently at age three I wrote a letter to Auntie Grace on the wallpaper telling her that I’d opened the china cabinet and broken cups. Was not a good day.

😂😂😂

You were an advanced 3-year-old if you could write explanatory letters, on the wallpaper or not!

sassysaysso

Not condoning the act at all and it’s very shameful the culprit is thought to be English, but it’s a continuation of a practice that dates back to Roman times.
imperiumromanum.pl/en/curiosities/obscene-graffiti-of-ancient-romans/

Maximus Decimus Meridius hic erat

Juliet27

^it is the kind of thing a small child might do, like scribbling on the wall-paper^

Apparently at age three I wrote a letter to Auntie Grace on the wallpaper telling her that I’d opened the china cabinet and broken cups. Was not a good day.

😂😂😂

Grantanow

It's quite interesting that many historic buildings and monuments have graffiti carved on them from long ago. Roman soldiers did it. The statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbal have graffiti from various periods including, I think, the Victorian. Buildings at Pompeii have contemporaneous ones. I saw some graffiti in the German parliament dating from the end of WW2 which had been preserved.

Ironic really, isn't it, that we tend to cherish old grafitti, but condemn the modern.

OTOH, with so many thousands of visitors to ancient (and not so ancient) monuments these days, where in the past the number of sightseers would have been far fewer, I suppose we can't have them all leaving their mark on them...

I live in an area where there is a lot of sanctioned street art, in fact property owners with suitable walls are falling over themselves to have their wall adorned. Street art of course grew out of graffiti in the 1980s so it was a bit ironic that one of the owners of a wall decorated with 21st century street art complained it had attracted 21st century graffiti.

Dinahmo

There's quite a lot of graffiti on the pillars of the temple of Luxor dating back to the early 19th Century. First Napoleonic armies and then British. Both left their mark. The graffiti is rather high up because the sand that was in the building then has since been dug out.

However that does not excuse that idiot (Brit).

(Bulgarian).

Juliet27

^it is the kind of thing a small child might do, like scribbling on the wall-paper^

Apparently at age three I wrote a letter to Auntie Grace on the wallpaper telling her that I’d opened the china cabinet and broken cups. Was not a good day.

Wow Juliet he may be a moron but you are genius level! I hope you realised your full potential.😂

In general, historic graffitti adds to the interest of a place. But like anything you can have too much of a good thing and in the modern age wilth tourists moving in their millions, and probably billion,s around the world, it has to be discouraged otherwise everything would be defaced and no surface left unscratched obliterating everything that went before.

I bet he is sorry and embarrased now

I bet he isn't, instead rather proud he has caused such a kerfuffle. - and the graffitti, presumably remains. Now removing it would probably really irritate him.

One of the temples on the Nile has graffiti from British soldiers on the their way to Khartoum.

There's quite a lot of graffiti on the pillars of the temple of Luxor dating back to the early 19th Century. First Napoleonic armies and then British. Both left their mark. The graffiti is rather high up because the sand that was in the building then has since been dug out.

However that does not excuse that idiot (Brit).

He is a Moron, I bet he is sorry and embarrased now.

Delightfully honest, Juliet27 I had to smile.

It's one of those "appropriate in some places not others" because there is no doubt it's fascinating to go back and see historical carvings " Brutus was here". So I wouldn't say "never" but certainly not on the Colosseum.

Perhaps just doing lateral thinking you could have stones or wood near historical buildings where pole were encouraged to leave their record there. But then you'd run up against elf and safety. Visitors books can be really interesting and moving like they have in old cathedrals and churches.

It's quite interesting that many historic buildings and monuments have graffiti carved on them from long ago. Roman soldiers did it. The statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbal have graffiti from various periods including, I think, the Victorian. Buildings at Pompeii have contemporaneous ones. I saw some graffiti in the German parliament dating from the end of WW2 which had been preserved.

it is the kind of thing a small child might do, like scribbling on the wall-paper

Apparently at age three I wrote a letter to Auntie Grace on the wallpaper telling her that I’d opened the china cabinet and broken cups. Was not a good day.

SueDonim

Grannybags

I was fuming when I saw this on the news. How embarrassing that he was a Brit.

He is apparently Bulgarian, living in the UK.

Lazy journalism at its its best.

i think this is largely down to ignorance;
it is the kind of thing a small child might do, like scribbling on the wall-paper.
caught up in their own self expression and unaware, uncaring, of the value of their surroundings.

👍

Grannybags

I was fuming when I saw this on the news. How embarrassing that he was a Brit.

He is apparently Bulgarian, living in the UK.

I am rather with sassysaysso. It should not be encouraged, in these days when millions of people visit every year, and if 1% did it, it would be too many, but I do feel uncomfortable with the 'preserved in aspic' attitude to structures and things that survive from the past.

We live in a listed house and what it is now is made up of what has been done to it almost every generation since it was built, including by us and the people we bought from.

I realise there is graffiti of the 'Maximus Decimus woz 'ere' variety, but at that time the Colosseum wasn't an ancient monument/structure.

Not condoning the act at all and it’s very shameful the culprit is thought to be English, but it’s a continuation of a practice that dates back to Roman times.
imperiumromanum.pl/en/curiosities/obscene-graffiti-of-ancient-romans/

I was fuming when I saw this on the news. How embarrassing that he was a Brit.

Vandalism at its worst 😡