Tourist Arrested For Stealing Marble From Acropolis in Greece

In yet another disappointing news, a tourist tried to steal pieces of marble from Greece's historic landmark known as the Acropolis.

A 36-year-old tourist from Romania who visited the archaeological site on Tuesday morning was later caught putting their hand on a section of the Propylaea — the remains of the gateway leading into the Acropolis. A woman, who was also at the scene, noticed it and was immediately suspicious of wrongdoing.

The tourist was then led to the entrance of the site, where police approached them.

According to the Greek media outlet Proto Thema, the thief was a woman who decided to take two pieces of marble home as a "souvenir". Meanwhile, in a contradicting report by another Greek publication, Iefimerida, the tourist who stole marble from the archaeological site in Athens was a man from Romania.

The guilty tourist was eventually arrested for aggravated theft and violation of the law "on the protection and in general of the cultural heritage". The tourist allegedly claimed to the police that they were not aware that their act of stealing marble from the Acropolis was illegal. The tourist also claimed that they had not caused any damage to the monument since the pieces of marble had already come off.

It is understood that the marble was then confiscated and sent to the Ephorate of Antiquities for archaeological evaluation. The arrested person is now expected to be brought to the Athens Prosecutor's Office as part of the automatic procedure.

With life having gone back to normal following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourists have been causing problems at the ancient site in Greece throughout this summer.

In a bid to preserve the historic Acropolis, which sees around 23,000 visitors per day, the Greek authorities have introduced new strict rules, including capping the number of tourists in a day. Only 20,000 people will be allowed to visit the Acropolis in a day. There will also be a cap on how many visitors will be let in every hour.

The new rules were enforced on Sept. 4 on a trial basis.

Athens' Acropolis is open from 8 am to 8 pm every day of the week. As of now, half of the Acropolis' foot traffic arrives between 8 am and noon. Under the new system, 3,000 people are allowed in from 8-9 am, 2,000 during the next hour and the numbers vary across the rest of the day.