A 3,500-year-old jar was completely shattered by a five-year-old visitor at a museum in Haifa in the Middle East. Footage of the incident has gone viral on social media, leaving people baffled while debating who’s to blame. According to many, such precious artifacts benefit from stronger protection than a single piece of glass.
In a viral photograph, the historical jar, which is claimed to date from the Bronze Age, can be seen lying cracked and destroyed in its open glass exhibit at the Hecht Museum.
The stunning image was shared on the “Kids Are F*****g Stupid” Reddit community, prompting both amusement and outrage, as a Redditor commented: “They should build a new casing around it and preserve it.
“Clay pot 1500 BC, broken by 5-year-old boy 2024 AD.”
A 3,500-year-old jar was completely shattered by a five-year-old visitor at a museum in Haifa in the Middle East
A user wrote: “I can see the child’s parents freaking out and explaining how old the artifact was, and the child just not comprehending what 3500 even means. Like ‘is that more than 5?’”
“This is the kid’s fault, the parent’s fault, and the museum‘s fault,” a person argued. “The kid shouldn’t touch things in a museum, the parents should have made sure he didn’t and the museum should have put that sh*t behind glass.”
“On the other hand, if it didn’t break, I would never have known of the existence of that particular vase, so who cares. (The museum, I guess, but not me.)”
A netizen quipped: “This is how adventure movies start.”
Someone else noted: “That’s going to be one expensive bill.”
A separate individual chimed in: “Museums should be child-proof safe. Like the way it’s displayed was a disaster waiting to happen anyways.”
A similar incident occurred six years ago when parents in Kansas, USA, were issued a $132,000 bill after their five-year-old son knocked over an art sculpture that was on display at a community center.
Surveillance video captured the little boy reaching for the sculpture, called Aphrodite di Kansas City, on display in the lobby of the Tomahawk Ridge Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas, when it toppled over, ABC News reported in 2018.
Footage of the incident has gone viral on social media, leaving people baffled while debating who’s to blame
A few days later, the family received an eye-watering bill from the city of Overland Park’s insurance company, saying that the piece had been damaged beyond repair.
“You’re responsible for the supervision of a minor child… your failure to monitor could be considered negligent,” the insurance letter read in part.
“I was surprised, absolutely, more so offended to be called negligent,” the boy’s mother, Sarah Goodman, told ABC News at the time. “They were treating this like a crime scene.”
The sculpture’s artist, Bill Lyons, told ABC News it took him about two years to create the piece, and it was listed for sale at $132,000. He examined the piece himself, he said, and he concluded it could not be repaired.
“It’s beyond my capabilities and desires to rebuild it,” he said at the time.
City officials reportedly revealed that the piece was not “permanently attached,” but it was secured to the pedestal with clips and it was “not an interactive piece.”
“We’ve had other pieces there [and] we’ve not had problems,” a city spokesperson, Sean Reilly, told the American broadcaster. “We’ve not had this situation… we’ve not had kids climb on our pieces.”
Sarah argued at the time that the sculpture should have been better secured. She also disputed the city’s claim that her child wasn’t being supervised.
According to many, such precious artifacts benefit from stronger protection than a single piece of glass
The mom further claimed that she and her husband were out of the frame of the surveillance camera, saying their goodbyes during a wedding reception they were leaving when the incident occurred.
“No one would ever expect that to come into a place that kids are invited and have to worry about a $132,000 piece of art falling on their child,” Sarah said. “Because he didn’t maliciously break that. It fell on him. It was not secure, it was not safe — at all.”
Historically, in cases where artwork or precious artifacts have been damaged, even in a case where a child was lifted over a barrier, no action has been taken to recover the cost of the damage from the third party, DAS Law Solicitors explains.
The gallery/museum has simply claimed from their insurers to cover the cost of any repairs required, the legal service states.
According to the legal experts, museums and galleries generally display pieces of art and artifacts that are loaned to them by a third party, including other countries.
Under the principle of bailment, the establishment has a duty of care over items belonging to a third party. Galleries and museums, therefore, should ensure that pieces are reasonably protected, for example, by roping off areas or installing protective barriers.
Such measures may even be a condition of any insurance policy. In order for a gallery or museum to be sued for any damage caused to items in its care, a third party would have to establish that the museum had failed in its duty of care and had in some way been negligent, DAS Law says.
Bored Panda has contacted the Hecht Museum for comment.
“Children been breaking pots since the beginning of pots,” a reader shared
