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Italy’s hiding of ancient museum nudes from Iranian president ridiculed by media…

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Some of the marble statues that were covered up with wooden panels on the occasion of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit are seen at the Capitoline Museums, in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. A kind of " classics coverup " is causing a political flap in Italy, after ancient nude statues in a museum were hidden from view so the Iranian president would not take offense. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Some of the marble statues that were covered up with wooden panels on the occasion of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit are seen at the Capitoline Museums, in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. A kind of ” classics coverup ” is causing a political flap in Italy, after ancient nude statues in a museum were hidden from view so the Iranian president would not take offense. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A decision by Italian officials to cover up ancient nude statues to not offend Iran’s visiting president is drawing ridicule in Rome.

Ahead of a news conference Monday with Premier Matteo Renzi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, wooden panels were erected around some Roman statues in Rome’s Capitoline Museums.

When images of the cover-up made the Italian media Tuesday, politicians from across the spectrum decried and derided the decision.

The museum said Tuesday that the premier’s office wanted the statues along Rouhani’s path to the news conference covered up. Renzi’s office declined to comment.

Renzi and Rouhani spoke in a room featuring the famed bronze statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, fully clothed.

Among those heaping criticism on Renzi Tuesday was politician Gianluca Peciola, from the far-left SEL party, who announced a petition drive to demand that the premier explain a choice it considers “a shame and mortification for art and culture understood as universal concepts.”

On the far-right, Brothers of Italy party leader Giorgia Meloni said that the “level of cultural submission” by Renzi “has surpassed every limit of decency.” She recalled what for many was a dismaying precedent – the draping of a modern nude statue when the crown prince of United Arab Emirates visited Palazzo Vecchio, the city hall in Renzi’s home region.

In this Monday, Jan. 25, 2016 photo, plywood panels cover naked statues inside the Campidoglio, Capitol Hill, during a meeting between Italian Premier Matteo Renzi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in Rome, Italy, January 25, 2016. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP) ITALY OUT
In this Monday, Jan. 25, 2016 photo, plywood panels cover naked statues inside the Campidoglio, Capitol Hill, during a meeting between Italian Premier Matteo Renzi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in Rome, Italy, January 25, 2016. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP) ITALY OUT

During this week’s meeting in Rome, Renzi and Rouhani committed to strengthening cultural ties. The premier’s office noted that Rome’s MAXXI museum is interested in putting on a show of works from Tehran’s museum of contemporary art.

After Rome, Rouhani heads to Paris. Last fall, an unsourced French radio report said the Iranian leader had canceled a lunch at the French presidential palace because the palace refused to offer a halal menu without wine. The palace insisted such a lunch had never been planned.

That European trip was scratched after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris.

Rouhani’s schedule for this trip includes no meals with French officialdom.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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2 responses to “Italy’s hiding of ancient museum nudes from Iranian president ridiculed by media…”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Rouhani would be better off rambling around with someone like me, than with any ‘Officialdumb’. Be with ‘the people’ to get to know a culture, at least.
    I’d say all the ass-kissing is a little weird … it’s about time some Middle-easterners found out what a human body of both sexes looks like anyway … something that could even help their doctors who until now have only been allowed to feel their way around. There’s something to be said for the laying on of hands, but if only the blind were doctors I think we’d be slighty undercared for.

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