eKathimerini — Phylax (Guardian), a red winged figure by Kostis Georgiou placed on an 8 meter high metal column plinth, was pulled down in the early hours of Thursday by a gang of 15 hooded men, according to an announcement from the municipal authority.
A man running a kiosk near the seaside park where the sculpture was displayed told authorities that the vandals turned up in a truck and two SUVs, and used ropes to pull the sculpture down and smash it on the ground. They also allegedly threatened the kiosk owner when he berated them for their act of vandalism.
Reacting to the incident, the Chamber of Greek Artists said it was “deeply saddened that even a small portion of society can be manipulated by arbitrary interpretations of a work of art.”
The Greek Ministry of Culture also condemned the destruction of the statue which some parishioners said symbolised Satan.
A protest rally earlier this month spearheaded by a local parish priest who sprinkled holy water on the art work to “exorcise its demons”, called for the removal of the statue, which the cleric described in an open letter to Palaio Faliro Mayor Dionysis Hatzidakis as “a demon and a soldier of Satan that, instead of being honored, must be despised as blasphemous to the holy trinity.”
The exorcism evidently, did not succeed in removing from the minds of religious zealots the demonic association of the statue.
