Rome Covers Nude Statues to Avoid Offending Iranian President

Ahead of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Rome, the city took the unusual step of covering nude statues in plain white boxes to avoid offending the leader.

Quite a sight: Nude ancient statues covered for the visit of Iran president Hassan Rouhani in #Rome pic.twitter.com/7qOcab3rJt

— Alessandro Speciale (@aspeciale) January 26, 2016

Hassan Rouhani visited the Capitoline Museums with premier Matteo Renzi, having signed contracts worth up to €17 billion ($18.4 billion) on Monday.

And Renzi was clearly keen to avoid offending his new business partner. The nude statues and sculptures in the museum were completely covered by large white boxes, as can be seen in the video below.

The decision to cover up nudity was seen as a mark of respect for the traditions of the Muslim country, which has only just had its trade sanctions lifted.

This is kind of absurd. There's a difference between art and pornography, and one would hope that the leader of a country would have the mental faculties to discern this. While I understand that it's a kind gesture to respect the cultural sensibilities of visitors, censoring art in a museum seems a bit extreme.