FIRE

Naples, a fire incinerates the "Venus of Rags": photos

Very ugly event occurred on the morning of July 12 in Naples, Italy. A fire, which broke out in the early hours of dawn, completely incinerated the "Venus of Rags," the work of contemporary art created by Michelangelo Pistoletto.

The work had been unveiled on June 28 and represented "the humanity of today, called to express its best side," to quote the words used by the artist himself.

The burning obviously melted the statue and destroyed the clothes and rags that adorned it. The origin of the fire is not yet known, but arson is speculated.

The rags symbolized waste or refuse, which Venus has the power to regenerate.

ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
A very ugly incident occurred on the morning of 12 July in Naples, Italy. A fire, which broke out in the early hours of the morning, completely incinerated the 'Vergine degli Stracci', the work of contemporary art created by Michelangelo Pistoletto.
Di Patafisik e user:Elena Tartaglione - Opera propria, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
The work was inaugurated on 28 June and represented 'the humanity of today, called upon to express its best side', to quote the words used by the artist himself.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
The fire obviously melted the statue and destroyed the clothes and rags that adorned it. The origin of the fire is not yet known, but arson is assumed.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
The rags symbolized waste or refuse, which Venus has the power to regenerate.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
The fire broke out, according to witnesses, between 5.15 and 5.30 am. This was confirmed by videos posted on the net by citizens and taxi drivers who were crossing the square at that time. Only a few shreds of fibreglass cloth remain of the 'Venus' statue.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
At the moment, the investigators seem to rule out spontaneous combustion, as there was no material of an electrical nature or connected to a power supply inside the work.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
The contemporary work was presented just a fortnight ago, on the occasion of the exhibition 'Napoli Contemporanea 2023', which was created with the aim of providing space for contemporary art in the streets and squares of the city.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
The 'Venus of rags', for those of you not from Naples, was in the centre of the 'new' Piazza Municipio, only recently reopened to the public after a long series of works, in a central position between the Town Hall, the Triton Fountain, the Maschio Angioino and the harbour area.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
The mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, commented: 'Dismayed by an act of great violence that leaves one speechless. Underage involvement? It is being assessed, it may be. I was told by the Pistoletto Foundation that in the last few days there was a sort of competition on social networks of people inviting people to burn the statue'. But the first citizen assures: 'The city will not give up.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
The mayor of Naples himself has already announced that the statue will be rebuilt after all the relevant surveys, perhaps even with the help of a fundraiser.
ANSA foto
A fire destroys the "Venus of rags" in Naples: photos
"The Venus that comes from the history of beauty regenerates these rags, which suddenly become works of art and come back to life," explained the artist Pistoletto during the inauguration ceremony, which took place at the end of June in the City Hall.
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