Greek lawmaker attacks paintings in Athens’ National Gallery, claiming they are offensive

Greece’s National Gallery said a Greek lawmaker on Monday attacked four paintings in an exhibition at the museum in Athens, including one he had previously criticized as offensive on religious grounds.

Police detained Nikolaos Papadopoulos — of the small right-wing, ultra-religious Niki party — for several hours before releasing him. The National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum shut down after the attack, with visitors turned away.

The museum issued a statement saying Papadopoulos and one other person attacked the paintings that were part of an exhibition of Greek artists titled “The Allure of the Bizarre,” throwing them to the floor and shattering glass in the frames.

The exhibition includes works that caricature religious icons and themes, and runs as an accompaniment to a display of 80 engravings by the Spanish master Francisco Goya.

Papadopoulos previously said in parliament that one of the Greek paintings was offensive to Orthodox Christianity, the predominant religion in Greece, asserting that it insulted the Virgin Mary and Christ.

The Culture Ministry responded that it acts “with the aim of protecting the country’s cultural and artistic heritage in general” and that it “never engages in acts of censorship.”

“I took down four icons, four blasphemous icons, and in two of those … the glass pane broke, nothing else,” Papadopoulos told reporters after he was released. He said works at the exhibition “insult the Virgin Mary, St George … the archangels that we in our homes were taught to worship and respect.”

In a statement issued Monday evening, the gallery’s board of directors said it “unreservedly condemn(s) every act of vandalism, violence and censorship which violate the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression.”

Formed in 2019, Niki, Greek for Victory, first entered parliament in 2023 elections, offering a mix of Orthodox Christian traditionalism and nationalism. It holds 10 of parliament’s 300 seats.