An Irish tourist nabbed one heck of a souvenir during his recent trip to the historic Brussels Stock Exchange in Belgium — the severed arm of a more than 100-year-old statue split off during a wild night on the town.


After scaling the statue depicting a lion and a man, which sits outside of the Bourse, the visitor apparently struggled to get back onto the ground. As he attempted to scale down the structure, he briefly lost his grip, accidentally snapping off what appeared to be a hand holding a torch as he tumbled to the ground.



The tourist may have initially made a break for it after breaking the statue, however, local authorities ultimately caught up with him at a nearby fast food joint where they arrested him. He claimed he didn’t realize the extent of damage he had caused while dismounting the lion.


Though it’s unclear whether the age-old rule of “you break it you buy it” rule applies here, the tourist, whose identity has yet to be made public, should absolutely hope it does not.


One day before the incident, the building reopened to the public after a three-year, roughly $150 million renovation. While how much of this eye-watering sum was spent on restoring the statues specifically is unknown, it will cost approximately $19,000 to repair the work to its pre-crazy night-out state, per local news outlet Nieuwsblad.


“We would like to carry out the repairs quickly, but it will surely take a few weeks or even months,” Nel Vandevennet, who oversaw the building’s restoration told VRT NWS, another local news source, before reiterating how “the whole building has only just been restored to its former glory.”

“We thought the sculptures would enjoy greater respect. We just think it’s very sad this happened,” he concluded.


So take it from this monument-mangling hooligan: Save a fortune, ride literally anything but a historic statue.