Valuable old paintings vandalised at Turku Castle

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A number of valuable old paintings have been deliberately damaged in Turku Castle. The incident apparently took place late last week.
      Some 20 works of art on display have been dented or punctured and some pieces of antique museum furniture have been vandalised.
      The destruction of paintings has taken place systematically in various parts of the castle, and the targets for vandalism include works depicting prominent historical persons, for example Per Brahe. Many spoilt paintings are portraits of Swedish dignitaries commissioned by tobacco magnate Fredric von Rettig at the end of the 19th century.
      The insured value of the most expensive painting is EUR 5 million.
     
The damage to the paintings was noticed on Saturday morning, whereupon the Turku Police was notified.
      Juhani Kostet, the head of the Turku Provincial Museum, says that the museum's experts are currently evaluating the scale of the damage.
      ”Frankly speaking, this was a highly unpleasant incident. At this stage, it is not possible to evaluate how much work it will take to repair the paintings. Usually even a minor restoration job takes several working hours”, Kostet reports.
      The medieval Turku Castle accommodates a total of 164 rooms and the number of various works of art on display representing different periods of time is in the hundreds.
      ”Some paintings have visible holes, but we will have to examine whether or not other paintings also have traces of damage”, Kostet notes.
      Most holes are at the chest level of an adult person, and it looks like they could have been made for example by punching the canvas with the tip of an umbrella.
     
”However, we never allow visitors to move around the castle with umbrellas”, Kostet notes.
      Kostet adds that the staff are continuously monitoring the exhibition premises, but it is not possible to look in all directions all the time.
      The police are investigating the matter, appealing for potential witnesses to the incident to contact the Turku police on 071874 6805.


Links:
  Turku Castle (Wikipedia)

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