A young man has knocked over a priceless 126-year statue of one of Portugal’s revered kings and smashed it to pieces in an apparent selfie gone wrong incident.
We already know that selfie deaths far outnumber shark attack deaths around the world (12 versus 8 during 2015), but a recent incident in Portugal highlights the potentially devastating effects the humble selfie can have on our cultural heritage.
The Dom Sebastiao statue at Rossio station in Lisbon is now a collection of broken stones thanks to the actions of a 24-year-old tourist who climbed up next to the statue to post for the perfect selfie, but accidentally knocked the free-standing sculpture off its pedestal.
Dom Sebastiao before he met the 24-year-old tourist.
Dom Sebastiao after he met the 24-year-old tourist. #shattered
The tourist apparently tried to flee the scene after the accident but was caught by police, and will now stand trial for destruction of public property. (The nationality of the tourist has not yet been revealed by the Portuguese police – what’s your guess on the nationality?)
A spokesperson for Infrastructure Portugal said it was not yet known when it would be fixed.
The statue’s subject, Dom Sebastiao, ruled Portugal between 1557 and 1578, and died in battle at just 24-years-old (the same age as the statue-smashing tourist).
Rossio station, built in the Neo-Manueline style, was completed in 1890 and is now a protected building.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a selfie-obsessed tourist has taken more than just a photo from a historical site.
Last year in Cremona, Italy, two tourists damaged part of the 300-year-old Statue of the Two Hercules sculpture after trying to take the perfect selfie.
The two Hercules survived the incident (obviously), but part of the coat of arms was destroyed.
The marble statue is considered a symbol of the city, and was originally displayed above the city gates. But since 1962 the Statue of the Two Hercules has been standing under the portico of Loggie dei Militi, a historic 1292 building that formerly housed city militia.
Perhaps it should have stayed up where it was, away from all those trigger happy selfie takers…
This incident is expected to spark much-needed debate on whether the scourge that is the selfie should be banned from important historical sites.
In June 2015, Disney announced that it would be banning selfie sticks from all its theme parks because of growing safety concerns.