Four works at The National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum in Athens were vandalised earlier this week, allegedly by a Greek member of parliament who described the contemporary pieces as “blasphemous” to Christianity.
Nikolaos Papadopoulos, aided by another individual, is said to have attacked four works by the artist Christoforos Katsadiotis entitled: Icon 1, Icon 16, Icon 17, and Saint Christopher. The attackers allegedly smashed the glass cases housing the works, throwing them to the floor.
A museum spokesperson confirmed that the attacks on works included in the exhibition The Allure of the Bizarre had taken place, and alleged that Papadopoulos, alongside one other person, was indeed responsible.
Police detained Papadopoulos, a member of the right-wing ultra-religious Niki (Victory) party, for several hours before releasing him, according to Associated Press. The news agency adds that Papadopoulos previously said in parliament that one of the Greek paintings was offensive to Orthodox Christianity, the predominant religion in Greece. He was reportedly charged with “a misdemeanour for minor property damage”.
Last week Papadopoulos wrote an open letter to the director of The National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Syrago Tsiara, saying: “The ‘works’ presented in your periodic exhibition, especially the Icon of the Virgin Mary embracing Christ and the vulgar falsification of Saint George, do not constitute art. They constitute a direct attack on our faith, on our cultural identity, on the roots of our nation.”
Following the incident, Papadopoulos wrote on X that his request to Tsiara and the Greek culture minister, Lina Mendoni, to withdraw the exhibits was ignored. “I visited the exhibition in order to see if, despite hope, the ‘artistic atrocities’ had been removed, as the exhibition is visited daily by tender schoolchildren,” he said.
Following the attack, the museum’s board of directors said in a statement that the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum is institutionally committed to the collection, preservation, promotion, and documentation of artistic creation.
“With a profound respect for artistic freedom, the board of directors affirms its trust in the museum’s administration and fully supports its approved artistic programme, fostering dialogue across diverse artistic movements, styles, and perspectives. We unequivocally condemn all acts of vandalism and violence, and any attempts at censorship that threaten the freedom of artistic expression enshrined in the Constitution of the Hellenic Republic.”
The artist behind the damaged works, Katsadiotis, also defended free speech, telling Kathimerini that artists “have the right to express [their] personal point of view, to react and, in so doing, ask the questions they want to ask”.
