Surveillance footage shows the man sit on the sculpture for a photo op before noticing the damage and awkwardly leaving the scene.
A historic sculpture in Italy is now missing some of its toes, thanks to an overeager tourist. The man damaged the 200-year-old sculpture last week while posing for a photo, the museum said. The tourist, who is from Austria, broke several toes off of the original plaster of, «Paolina Borghese Bonaparte as Venus Victrix,» at the Museo Antonio Canova in Possagno on Friday. The museum said the visitor was leaning on the sculpture, trying to mimic its pose for a photo op. Footage obtained by Reuters confirms that the man was sitting directly on the sculpture as another person appears to take a photo. The man stands up, turns around to view the apparent damage, before quickly walking away. The visitor left the museum without notifying anyone of the damage, the museum said in a Facebook post on Saturday. A museum official noticed the damage a few minutes after the incident occurred and declared an emergency situation.
