Greece’s National Gallery closed following arrest of MP after artworks damaged
Nikolaos Papadopoulos, a member of the small ultra-religious Niki party, allegedly smashed glass cases and attacked works he considered blasphemous.
Greek police detained a member of parliament on Monday after he allegedly attacked art works which are part of an exhibition in the country’s National Gallery in Athens.
Nikolaos Papadopoulos, who is a member of the small ultra-religious Niki party, allegedly smashed glass cases and attacked works he considered blasphemous. The gallery has been closed.
Police detained Mr Papadopoulos for several hours before releasing him. The National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum shut down after the attack, with visitors turned away.
The museum issued a statement saying Mr Papadopoulos and one other person attacked the paintings that were part of an exhibition of Greek artists titled The Allure Of The Bizarre,” throwing them to the floor and shattering glass in the frames.
The exhibition, which opened in January and is scheduled to run until September, accompanies a parallel display of 80 works by the late 18th century and early 19th century Spanish master Francisco Goya.
The National Gallery issued a statement saying its operation was being “temporarily suspended due to the attack on works of art”. It did not give any details of which works were attacked and what damage was caused.
Mr Papadopoulos, whose right-wing Niki party holds 10 of parliament’s 300 seats, had previously said in parliament that the exhibition was blasphemous and against the Virgin Mary and Christ.
Formed in 2019, Niki, or Victory, offers a mix of Orthodox Christian traditionalism and nationalism.
“I took down four icons, four blasphemous icons, and in two of those … the glass pane broke, nothing else,” Mr Papadopoulos told reporters after he was released.
He said works at the exhibition “insult the Virgin Mary, St George … the archangels that we in our homes were taught to worship and respect”.
In a statement issued on Monday evening, the gallery’s board of directors said it “unreservedly condemn(s) every act of vandalism, violence and censorship which violate the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression”.
