A man, apparently disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair, threw a piece of cake at the glass of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and shouted for people to think about planet Earth.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday that the 36-year-old man had been detained after Sunday’s incident and sent to a police psychiatric ward. An investigation has been launched into damage to cultural artifacts.
Videos posted on social media showed a young man in a wig and lipstick arriving in a wheelchair. A man, whose identity was unknown, has also been seen throwing roses at the museum gallery for jaw-dropping visitors.
Attack on La Gioconda
The attack of the cake left a conspicuous white cream streak on the glass, but the famous work by Leonardo da Vinci was not damaged.
Guards were filmed escorting a man in a wig as he called out to the puzzled visitors at the gallery, “Think Earth!” There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it. The artists tell you: think about Earth. That’s why I did it. ”
MONA LISA ATTACKED: Police in Paris say a man in a wheelchair, disguised as an elderly woman, threw a piece of cake at Da Vinci’s painting and shouted, “Think of the Earth.”
The painting, which is protected by a glass screen, was unharmed. pic.twitter.com/Q5SYgTZhmp
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) May 31, 2022
Then the guards cleaning the glass cake were filmed. The statement by the Louvre confirmed an attack on a work of art involving a “pastry shop”.
The 16th-century Renaissance masterpiece saw a lot in its more than 500 years of existence.
The painting was stolen in 1911 by a museum employee, which contributed to the international fame of the painting. It was also damaged by an acid attack by a vandal in the 1950s and has been kept behind glass ever since.
In 2009, a Russian woman who was angry that she couldn’t get French citizenship threw a ceramic mug at him, breaking the cup but not damaging the glass or the painting.