To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
A tourist has been caught on camera carving a message into the ancient walls of Rome’s Colosseum using a set of keys.
In the footage posted on Reddit, the man wearing shorts and a t-shirt carrying a backpack can be seen using keys to write ‘Hayley’ into the walls of the 1,937-year-old building.
As the other tourist using the camera pans to the man he looks into the camera and grins, but doesn’t stop using his keys to carve what some users have said is his girlfriend’s name into the wall.
Users were quick to slam the man, calling him an ‘a**hole’ and asking people to send the video to the police so he could be arrested.
If caught the man could face a huge fine that in the past has been up to £16,000.
He could also face up to a year behind bars.
In 2014 a Russian tourist was caught carving a 25cm ‘K’ into the historic building and was fined £15,800 (€20,000).
Footage of the man posted online shows him using a set of keys on the ancient building (Picture: Reddit)
The 42-year-old, was on holiday with his family, when a security guard caught him carving the tall letter into the brick with a sharp stone.
The director of the Colosseum, Rossella Rea, said the hefty fine was justified as the visitor had damaged ‘a magnificent and symbolic monument’. ‘You cannot write on a historic wall, it’s absolutely forbidden,’ she said.
Darius Arya, a Rome-based archaeologist, said at the time fine would send a powerful message to would-be vandals. ‘It’s an extraordinarily high fee. This says ‘we have no patience’; they’re upping the ante as a new form of protection.’
In 2020 an Irish tourist was accused of vandalizing the building after security staff spotted him allegedly carving his initials into the ancient Italian structure.
The Colosseum is considered one of the seven wonders of the world(Picture: AP)
The Carabinieri police said the 32-year-old man was caught by the Colosseum’s private security on Monday and immediately reported to officers.
The man’s two initials, about 6 centimeters (2 inches) high, were said to have been carved with a metal point on a pillar of the first floor of the monument.
The Colosseum, considered one of the seven wonders of the modern world, is a World Heritage Site, along with 54 other Italian sites that comprise the city’s historic center.
It was the biggest amphitheatre built in the Roman Empire, hosting gladiatorial fights and other public entertainment.
The ancient Romans painted scenes from the arena and famous gladiators on the walls, meaning graffiti there isn’t new.
In 2013 restoration work on a passageway uncovered graffiti left by gladiators themselves as well as drawings from the 1600s.
It also revealed a number of people had signed their names on the walls in the 1940s.
One user said on Reddit: ‘I was there and saw that too. The guy didn’t even think he was doing something wrong.’
Another said: ‘Wow…I was there yesterday too. (Didn’t see that though)
Rome (indeed most Italian cities I visited) are awash in graffiti. It’s absolutely everywhere. But it seems the graffiti people leave the historical stuff alone. This is a tourist being an a** though…what a colossal d*** thing to do.’
He could be seen carving ‘Hayley’ into the ancient building.