ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Mystery as Famous Elephant Statue Loses Tusk—Again

A police investigation is underway.

One of Rome’s most photographed monuments is missing a piece—again. Italian police are investigating how the elephant sculpture designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini lost the tip of its left tusk for a second time. Authorities found the 11-centimeter, four-inch marble fragment near the statue over the weekend and said they later determined it was not original to Bernini’s work but had been added during restoration in 1977. The same tip had already broken off during an act of vandalism in 2016, according to Rome’s city hall. Police are reviewing security camera footage to determine who, if anyone, was responsible for the latest break. The stocky elephant, located near the Pantheon, was commissioned by Pope Alexander VII after Dominican friars discovered a small Egyptian obelisk on the grounds of their nearby convent. The site sits adjacent to the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, where the obelisk now rests atop the elephant’s back. For now, investigators are left with a fragment in hand and a familiar question about how the tusk came off once more.