What Happens When You Accidentally Damage Priceless Artwork At A Museum

You've probably heard the old adage, "accidents happen," and no one knows this better than a museum. While the thought of damaging a priceless work of art may be the stuff of nightmares for a casual tourist, most major institutions anticipate such incidents and have protocols to handle them. For one thing, museum visitors are considered "guests," and it would be rude to charge a guest for accidentally breaking something after inviting them into your home. For museums, the same rule applies — if they've done their part to prevent an accident from happening, they'll not ask you to cover the damages. Instead, insurance will typically pick up the claim.

While your first instinct might be to run, you should stay calm and close by. You're more likely to be let off easy if you come forward and honestly explain what happened to a docent or guard. Museum staff can check camera footage and will ask for your contact information and what happened in order to assess and document the damage, but the museum won't press charges unless there is clear evidence that you intended to cause damage.

In one alarming incident from a museum in Cambridge in 2006, one of the prettiest cities in England that's an easy day trip from London, lost three 17th-century vases made of fine china, costing about £175,000 (or $240,000 USD by current currency conversions) in total, when a visitor tripped over his own untied shoelace and knocked them down. While the institution's initial reaction was harsh, charging the man with a criminal offense and sending him off to jail, by the next day, it had decided not to press charges, and he was released with a stern warning.

You probably wouldn't consider an art museum someplace where you ought to think twice before taking a selfie, but this harmless act has led to a surprising number of incidents. Oftentimes, damages occur when tourists attempt to take an "inappropriate" selfie with a statue, physically interacting with it in some way. Not anticipating marble would be so fragile, an Austrian tourist crumbled the toes of a 19th-century statue of Napoleon's sister at the Antonio Canova Museum outside Venice in 2020 whilst posing upon it. Other stories exist of tourists climbing on top of statues in public places and knocking them over, completely destroying irreplaceable works of art.

Try to stay alert to your surroundings. For instance, in contemporary art galleries where unusual pieces of art may appear to resemble furniture or other everyday items you could interact with, appearances are easy to mistake. Most museums try to exercise preventative measures (such as corded barriers, "Don't Touch" signs, and taped lines on the floor) to deter guests from making disastrous errors. But for the most part, museums don't wish to inhibit their guests' ability to appreciate the artwork as is, and some are even shifting toward trusting museum-goers' goodwill without interference.

Depending on your level of negligence (i.e., whether you fail to notice or just completely ignore protective measures), you may be asked to pay for some portion of the repair, but for the most part, insurance will cover the majority of the piece's value. These institutions tend to care more about damage control and conserving artwork than pointing fingers. However, if seen as a liability, you may be asked never to visit the museum again.