Fed's New Rate Hike Eye Infections Money-Saving Tips Huawei Watch Ultimate Adobe's Generative AI Tips to Get More Exercise 12 Healthy Spring Recipes Watch March Madness
Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?
No, thank you
Accept

Selfie-taking tourists allegedly smash ancient Hercules statue

Technically Incorrect: A statue in Cremona, Italy, is seriously damaged after two tourists allegedly climb it because they want to memorialize their presence in the Loggia Dei Militi.

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


hercself.jpg
It's not a good look, is it? And Hercules gets mad. Corriere Della Sera/Twitter screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

There's currently a tension between culture and those with gadgets who believe they're the only culture in town.

They waft down the street, their selfie stick extended, oblivious to eyes they might poke, or laughter they might evoke.

And everywhere they go, they must take a picture, in order to boast that they were there.

In Cremona, Italy, however, they're wishing that these self-regarders would show a little respect. As European news site The Local reports, two men were visiting the historic Loggia dei Militi on Friday, when they espied the Statue of the Two Hercules.

Now Hercules was a big man. But this statue -- which depicts two figures of Hercules holding the emblem of Cremona -- was sculpted in the 18th century, so it's seen some wear and tear.

Still, these tourists allegedly decided to climb one of the Hercules in order to show how big they were. Sadly, the only kind of big they seemed to be was of the size kind. For they allegedly snapped off Hercules' crown.

Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera posted the evidence to its Twitter account, with tears surely cascading down its collective Italian cheeks.

Tourists are becoming increasingly blase about culture, in their desperate need to show how they are communing with it.

My nasal passages remain blocked after earlier this year learning that two women were so desperate to take an "original" selfie that they carved their initials into the Colosseum in Rome.

In the Cremona case, it's unclear whether there might be any charges. Surely the least of these would be to charge the tourists for the repairs to Hercules' splendor.