Greek Far-Right MP Vandalises ‘Blasphemous’ Exhibit at National Gallery

Greek MP Nikolaos Papadopoulos, January 2025. Photo: Nikolaos Papadopoulos/Facebook.

Nikolaos Papadopoulos, an MP for the far-right Niki party, said on Monday that he broke protective glass frames and grabbed artworks in the Greek National Gallery because they insulted the Christian religion.

Papadopoulos was angered by the artworks’ irreverent reinterpretations of an Orthodox religious icon of Christ with the Virgin Mary and of an image of Saint George. He was detained by police in the National Gallery, accompanied by his lawyer, a police spokesperson told BIRN. Police said he faced prosecution for aggravated assault.

According to media, the MP earlier sent a letter of protest to the National Gallery about a temporary exhibition called “The Seduction of the Strange – In-Between Space”, and posted a video on X on March 9 accusing the Ministry of Culture of blaspheming the Orthodox Christian faith.

“The Ministry of Culture is committing the greatest blasphemy through filthy images in the National Gallery. The holy images of the Orthodox faithful Christians who worship them are being brutally insulted,” he said.

Papadopoulos earlier submitted a question to parliament about the exhibition, which he said was “directly insulting the holy figures of the Virgin Mary and Christ, who are depicted distorted”.

Politicians have defended the gallery’s decision to host the exhibition.

“There is no censorship in art,” said Nikitas Kaklamanis, the speaker of Greece’s parliament. The Ministry of Culture “never takes actions of censorship”, minister Lina Mendoni said on January 24.

The National Gallery announced that it would remain closed on Monday due to the attack.