14 DAY TRIAL // This past weekend, two women from California, US, were taken into police custody in Italy. They stand accused of having carved the initials of their names into the walls of Rome's Colosseum and will soon have to answer for their actions in front of a court of law.
The Colosseum, built back in the 1st century BC, is part of Italy's cultural heritage, which is why the local police in the city of Rome did not take lightly to these two ladies' spur-of-the-moment idea to decorate its walls with their initials.
The women hoped to carve their names in full
It is understood that it was on Saturday that the two women visited the millennia-old Colosseum in Rome together with a group of tourists and a guide. At one point, they parted with their group and set out to explore the ancient building on their own.
The majority of the millions of people who visit the Colosseum annually settle for taking photos of it or simply admiring the sight. These gals, however, decided to do something a tad more special and tried using coins to carve their names into the building’s walls.
Having managed to carve a “J” and an “N,” each measuring about 8 centimeters (about 3 inches) in height, they abandoned their ambitious plan to scratch their names in their entirety and started taking selfies with just their initials.
Soon enough, the police learned about their little art project, found them and took them into custody. The young women now risk being made to pay a hefty fine, maybe even jail time. Yes, Italy takes protecting its cultural heritage seriously.
People don't realize how valuable the Colosseum is
In an interview with the press, a spokesperson for the Special Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Rome argued that the two California women must have not realized how valuable to Italy's history the Colosseum was.
True, the building sports plenty of signs written in English and Italian that clearly ban people from spray-painting or carving the ancient building’s walls, but it looks like some people cannot be bothered to read them.
“There’s a difference in perception. Museums are treated like churches, sacred places where there are things of great value, whereas the Colosseum is an incomplete building which has already been robbed,” the spokesperson explained, as cited by The Guardian.
The Colosseum as part of Italy's cultural heritage
As detailed by historians, work on Rome's Colosseum began in 70 AD during the time of the emperor Vespasian and was completed about a decade later under the emperor Titus.
In ancient times, nearly 80,000 people visited the Colosseum regularly to watch gladiators battle each other or wild animals, dramas based on classical mythology and even executions.
It wasn't until the early medieval era that the building stopped being used for entertainment. Although left without many of its stones by robbers, the Colosseum is still an impressive sight.