Vandals toppled a 160-year-old marble bust of Christ from a grand staircase landing at the Boston Public Library, leaving a companion sculpture of Lucifer undamaged, a library spokeswoman said.
The bust, which broke into a few pieces, will be repaired, Mary Bender told The Boston Globe for a story in today's editions. Lucifer has been removed from display until better protection is arranged. The sculptures, which were displayed behind a railing, were made by Horatio Greenough around 1845 and had been on the landing between the first and second floor since the library opened in 1895.
According to a police report, a man and a woman were seen on a library surveillance video attacking the bust at 2:40 p.m. on Sept. 12. The video showed the woman throwing something at the sculpture and pushing it off a ledge. The suspects bravely fled.
"People reported hearing a crash," Bender told the Globe. She said a man tried to vandalize the bust in the 1970s but was tackled by an employee. Lucifer was spared that time, too. |