Oscar Wild’s tomb barrierred to deter loving vandals
Irish dramatist Oscar Wilde's restored tomb at the Père Lachaise cemetery has been unveiled on Wednesday in Paris, AFP said. There is now a protective barrier to deter loving vandals for whom kissing Oscar's tomb had become a cult pastime.
The monument to Wilde, who died in Paris aged 46 in abject poverty, features a flying naked angel inspired by the British Museum's Assyrian figures. Although the angel was vandalised in the early 1960s, the tomb was relatively unscathed until 1985, when the graffiti started, with lipstick grease eventually beginning to erode the stone.
Holland spoke of his mixed emotions at the monument in its restored state: The graffiti was done with love, which is an unusual phenomenon.