Rome's Plastic Statues

In an attempt to prevent vandalism and theft of some of Rome's sculptural treasures, the city has taken unusual measures, according to a report in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald (Feb. 4).

“The truth is out. For six years the Rome city council … has been spiriting away tombs, statues, and busts and replacing them with plastic fakes.

“Those who fear it could be the first step towards the Eternal City becoming a replica of itself will not be reassured to learn that the author of the copies, Romolo Felice, 58, began his trade as a special-effects man on the film Ben Hur. Mr. Felice, his son and three brothers-in-law have turned out a stream of reproductions so good that no one has noticed the absence of the originals.”

“They are responsible for two ersatz sarcophagi near the entrance to the gardens of the Villa Pamphilj, a phony Venus in the grounds of the Villa Celimontana on the Caelian Hill and a host of bogus statues and busts dotted around the 16th-century Villa Aldobrandini.”

“It has also emerged that, when the Museo Borghese was reopened amid much hullabaloo last year, all the sculptures gracing the courtyard had been replaced with reproductions. The elegant neoclassical nudes are made of “concrete with a patina of marble dust,” a council official said. In defending its replacement of statues with plastic replicas—and the city's silence about the practice—a city spokesman explained that some things are better done without fanfare.

“They are so faithful to the original that already thieves have taken them for real, decapitated one to make off with the head and tried to carry away another,” he added.

“Theft is merely one reason the council felt it had to act. Pollution, vandalism, and erosion by rain have all taken their toll.

“Carla Benocci of the council's heritage department told the newspaper La Repubblica, which unveiled the ploy: “There is no alternative to copies if one wants to conserve monuments. Those in the Aldobrandini gardens were in a striking state of decay.”

Cuban Newspaper Reports on Pope's Visit

“Pope John Paul II received with warmth, respect, and admiration by the Cuban people,” read the headline in Granma Internacionale, the on-line version of Cuba's official news organ.

Joaquin Oramas reported what might be considered the official Cuban opinion of the Holy Father's recent visit, in a story that appeared on the Internet version of the paper Feb. 4. It begins:

“Pope John Paul II's five-day visit to Cuba gave the Sovereign Pontiff the opportunity to experience the warmth and profound respect offered by both believers and non-believers among the population as a whole and the country's leaders, particularly President Fidel Castro.

“The head of the Catholic Church and the leader of the Cuban Revolution spoke together on five occasions, in a constructive and friendly atmosphere. Those five encounters took place during the welcoming ceremony, the Pope's courtesy visit to the Palace of the Revolution, the visit to the Aula Magna of the University of Havana, the final Mass in Havana's José Martí Revolution Square, and the farewell ceremony held on the evening of Jan. 25.

“The cordiality of an educated and civilized people accompanied the Pope from the moment the plane bringing him from Rome first entered Cuban airspace, as the people of the province of Pinar del Río waved up to him from the ground below. Minutes later, that welcome became more direct in the capital, and in the cities of Santa Clara, Camagüey, and Santiago, where he officiated Masses.”