Santiago de Compostela, vandalism on Cathedral facade: 12th century sculpture becomes Kiss drummer

An act of vandalism was discovered this morning at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela that affected the fachada de las Platerías, the southern façade of the transept, built in the early 1100s. In particular, the object of the vandalism was a statue on the facade, also dating back to the 12th century and depicting an apostle: the face of the sculpture was painted with eyes and a mustache to simulate the catlike makeup of the drummer of Kiss, the celebrated U.S. hard rock band, active since the 1970s and known for the heavy make-up of its members (and the very words “Kiss” were placed on the book held by the statue). However, the unknown fan of the American band who wanted to pay homage to Peter Criss or Eric Singer, the two drummers who have used make-up over the years, probably did not realize the severity of the damage (if not economic, since the extent seems slight, certainly cultural), since the fachada de las Platerías is also the only one from the Romanesque period that has been preserved in Santiago Cathedral, a destination for thousands of pilgrims each year.

There is unanimous outrage, already running on Spanish-speaking social profiles (in fact, the photo of the vandalism has been widely circulated on Twitter and Facebook). “This is an act of inculturation and barbarism,” said Román Rodríguez, Galicia’s councillor for culture. In contrast, the mayor of Santiago, Martiño Noriega, said that Santiago de Compostela is “a terribly tolerant World Heritage city, however, today we are sending a message: in the face of acts of this kind we are intolerant.” However, as anticipated, the damage does not appear to be serious, as Daniel Lorenzo, director of the Fundación Catedral, told the influential newspaper La Vanguardia, “We think that, after the studies we will do with the technicians from the General Directorate of Heritage and our restorers, we will be able to clean up the damage as early as tonight, thanks to the team we can count on at the moment and thanks to the latest generation lasers we possess.”

The perpetrator of the damage now faces a fine of between 6,000 and 150,000 euros. Authorities have already taken steps to view surveillance camera footage and try to discover the identity of the vandal rocker.

Pictured (from Twitter) is the Romanesque apostle turned Kiss drummer.

Santiago de Compostela, vandalism on Cathedral facade: 12th century sculpture becomes Kiss drummer

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