An Italian museum blasted a pair of tourists as "disrespectful" and more after cameras caught the man sitting and destroying the famed "Van Gogh" chair made up of thousands of Swarovski crystals.
In a Facebook post by the Palazzo Maffei in Verona, Italy, a security video showed two tourists examining the museum's artwork. The woman walked over to the chair and hovered above the crystal chair, while the man took a picture of her, according to reports.
Then, it was the male tourist's turn to get his picture taken. He went to check out the chair. First, he appeared to try to hover over it, but for some bizarre reason, he changed his mind and decided to actually sit in the delicate chair. He ended up losing his balance, falling backward and hitting the chair, then tried to steady himself with both hands against the wall.
The man's loss of balance was clearly too much for the fragile crystal chair, which collapsed completely and crumbled to the ground upon impact.
‘Idiot’ tourist sits on and shatters ‘Van Gogh’ chair adorned with thousands of Swarovski crystals https://t.co/AJEDBlMENd pic.twitter.com/oWCqfOZopv
— New York Post (@nypost) June 13, 2025
The female tourist assisted the man in getting up and out of his predicament. And the two then walked out of the room like nothing had happened.
In the social media post from the museum, it wrote that "They waited for the staff to leave the room for a striking photo … and then off they went, indifferent to what happened."
The Post reported in its story linked above that the museum called the tourist's actions "superficial" and "disrespectful."
"They ignored every rule of respect for art and cultural heritage," the museum added.
It read that:
The art piece by Italian artist Nicola Bolla was named the "Van Gogh" chair, as it resembles a chair in one of the legendary Dutch painter's most famous pieces. The museum described it as an extremely delicate piece of work, entirely covered in crystals.
But this story has a happy ending — a few days after the horrific accident, the museum was breathing a sigh of relief. It had been able to restore the art piece to its original splendor.
A staffer said in Italian on the Facebook post that, "For days we didn't know if it would be possible to restore it. But we did it."
"A heartfelt thanks goes to the police, our security department and the restorers, whose precious work allowed the work to be recovered," the staffer added.
In comments connected to the Palazzo Maffei's posting, people reacted to the video and made it clear what these two did was unforgivable.
"Idiots! I hope they are reported!" Davide Baraldi wrote.
Another added, "The embodiment of mediocrity, rudeness and ignorance."
It definitely reminded me of the People article a few months back about a group of tourists from New Zealand who decided to take an illegal dip in a historic landmark, Rome's Trevi Fountain.
It read that:
According to CNN, the group was being escorted away from the popular tourist spot by Rome Capital Police when one of them, a 30-year-old man, broke free and jumped back into the water.
The Rome Capital Police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE for comment, but a spokesperson for the police department told CNN, "Alcohol was definitely involved."
The double-dipper was fined 500 euros (around $540) and received a lifetime ban from visiting the fountain.
I mean, who does this? There are rules of etiquette everyone should know.
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