In the Savona area, a red cloth on the nude of Epaminonda during the interreligious conference. I muslim: “We didn't ask for it”
Of Chiara Sarra
The statue is too naked, offends Muslims. Just like in January 2016 – when the Capitoline Museums veiled the nudes so as not to outrage the Iranian president Rohani who was visiting Italy -, a statue of Epaminondas was covered with a red cloth and a painting depicting a naked woman from behind intent on washing was moved so as not to irritate Muslim associations.
The one to report it Mario Capelli Steccolini the painter and sculptor who created the works on display at Cairo Montenotte, in the Savona area. “In the face of those who said it was my publicity stunt; they covered Epaminondas!”, he wrote on his Facebook page. And then he added: “Let's be clear, Epaminondas was covered by the Muslims for their ceremonial needs. I removed the painting at their request. The Administration is not to blame”.
At the Palazzo di Città where the works were exhibited, Indeed, an interreligious conference was planned in the last few hours with the Italian Islamic Confederation and the Islamic Federation of Liguria. However, they deny any request to censor the nudes: “We hadn't even seen the painting, and it was the artist who stepped forward to remove it”, dice a The Press the president of the federation Lahcen Chamseddine, “We then placed the cloth on the statue, since the exhibition would open the next day, simply because there we had reconstructed the representation of the ancient tea ceremony and we needed a background to symbolize the desert dunes for the photographs. We represent moderate Islam, we are not fundamentalists. We are not asking for crucifixes to be removed or statues to be covered, and in fact there were many other statues of that type and none were covered. Those who want to make controversy have not understood our message“.
However, political controversy is inevitable: “Only to me does this seem crazy?”, writes Matteo Salvini. “Considering the motivation put forward by the organizers, namely that the sculpture would have been incompatible with the 'Moroccan setting’ of the event, it is not clear how the 'final product' can be, that is, a statue with a red veil on”, accuses the Fratelli d'Italia deputy Ylenja Lucaselli, “The suspicion is that the side effect of failed multiculturalism has emerged once again. This must call all of us to become aware of the need to protect our artistic expressions, our history and memory from any obscurantist attempt”.
Source: http://m.ilgiornale.it/news/2018/04/16/savona-statua-censurata-per-non-offendere-i-musulmani/1515958/