Wants to take a selfie at Genoa Cathedral, destroys decoration on 13th century portal

It is one of the symbols of Genoa: the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, with its thirteenth-century portals and marvelous works of art, attracts crowds of visitors every day who decide to take with them the memory of their visit with photographs and selfies. But there are those who have gone too far: an anonymous visitor, probably to take a selfie (this is at least the investigators’ hypothesis), climbed onto the left jamb of the main portal, the one decorated with the Stories of the Infancy of Christ, and took off the head of one of the Magi in the Adoration scene. The decorations on the main portal date from around 1230.

At the moment, the identity of the vandal who destroyed the decoration of the portal, which until now had gone through nearly eight hundred years of history unscathed, is unknown. Carabinieri from the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, following the obvious complaint filed with the Superintendency as soon as the damage was discovered (it was some tour guides who noticed it: among them Sandra Mazzucato, who posted a photo of the mutilated relief on Facebook), acquired images from surveillance cameras.

Pictured: the damaged relief (photo by Sandra Mazzucato).

Wants to take a selfie at Genoa Cathedral, destroys decoration on 13th century portal

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