A pole dancing show at the museum: there has been discussion in Greece for days about what happened in Corfu , where the Municipality of Corfu and the city’s Museum of Asian Art , housed in the exquisite Palace of Saints Michael and George (thenineteenth-century building also known locally as “Palaia Anaktora,” or “Old Palace”), have filed a lawsuit against the organizers of a photo shoot set up on the evening of last May 22 outside the museum: five women of British nationality in fact set up at the palace an unusual photo set with included pole dancing show. In a video released by the local news outlet CorfuPress.com, some of the girls, in skimpy outfits, are in fact seen performing on the pole, while others undress while waiting for their turn.
The event sparked strong reactions in Greece. “The recent unacceptable incident that occurred at the Old Palace,” the Corfu Old Town Residents’ Association wrote in an open letter, “in addition to offending our cultural heritage, once again raises general and specific issues that should have been resolved long ago and for which the Residents’ Association has intervened appropriately. It is known to all that the area in front of the buildings has become problematic because of the daily gathering, until late at night, of groups of young people who, with the music and noise they create, do not let the residents of the area rest in peace, either in winter or summer. [...] The issue of the enhancement and preservation of our city’s monumental sites is more topical than ever, and the departments concerned must provide solutions as soon as possible.”
The photo shoot was, apparently, improvised: in fact, they were passing tourists who had not planned it. Moreover, it had not been authorized. And messages came immediately from both the Municipality of Corfu and the Ministry of Culture. “We strongly condemn the actions carried out by unknown persons outside the museum,” the Municipality said in a note, announcing that it had filed a complaint against unknown persons and made available to the authorities the footage recorded by security cameras. The ministry, which spoke of an “illegal act,” also disclosed that “the competent authorities, namely the Municipality of Corfu and the Asian Art Museum of Corfu, immediately filed a lawsuit against those responsible.”
The investigation then led to the arrest of the five British women mentioned above on charges of violating the Antiquities and Cultural Heritage Protection Act and the Environmental Protection Act. The lawyer for the five British nationals told Greek broadcaster SKAI that, in his view, the permit was not necessary, as it was a “sports” photo shoot: “there was no pole dance,” he said, “it was a photo shoot involving specific athletic poses, in the style of pole dancing.” Moreover, according to the lawyer, the violation would exist only when fixed structures were installed: the pole, on the other hand, was a “portable structure.”
In the evening of Monday, May 26, the further developments in the case: three of the five dancers taken into custody were released as they were found not guilty, while two others, the organizers of the photo shoot, were found guilty of environmental degradation by the Corfu District Attorney’s Office and have already received a suspended sentence of 6 months in prison, and payment of court costs (200 euros each). On the other hand, the charge of violating cultural heritage laws was dropped, since the photo shoot did not cause damage to the museum. In addition, the relatively light punishment is also due to the fact that the authorities did not see commercial purposes. Upon leaving court, the women nevertheless apologized for the inconvenience caused to the community, Kathimerini newspaper reports, stressing that they did not intend to offend either the residents or the culture of the island of Corfu.
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| Greece, they pole dance at museum without permission: two female tourists convicted |
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