A waiter catering a corporate event at London’s British Museum accidentally lopped off the thumb of a 2,000-year-old Roman sculpture.
The accident, reported this week by the Art Newspaper, damaged the museum’s prized Townley Venus during an event in December 2015. The server was reportedly hovering too close to the statue and bumped into the over 7-foot sculpture, causing the statue's right thumb to break off cleanly and fall to the floor.
The museum has since repaired the masterpiece.
“We have taken the incident seriously and have retrained all individuals responsible for events,” a spokesperson for the British Museum told Newsweek in a statement. “This was an unfortunate incident. The preservation of the collection is of fundamental importance to the British Museum. Our expert conservators have been able to fully restore the object and it has remained on public display.”
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The museum did not identify the catering company.
The Townley Venus is a marble portrayal of a half-naked goddess of love dating back to the 1st of 2nd centuries.
It was excavated in 1775 from Roman baths and bought by English collector Charles Townley.
Its index finger was already missing when the British Museum acquired it in 1805.
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