– I do not know the age of the monument, he wrote in a letter to the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualteri.

The Guardian wrote that.

The 27-year-old man from England wrote a letter of apology to the mayor after he allegedly carved his and his girlfriend’s names into the 2,000-year-old monument with a key.

Lay flat

He is said to have been filmed by other tourists as he scrawled “Ivan + Hayley 23” onto the brick wall of the monument on Friday 23 June. The film was posted on social media, after which someone alerted police, who launched a search for the 27-year-old.

The tourist was tracked down by Italian police after five days, and wrote in a letter that he had only now realized the seriousness of what he had done.

– With these words, I would like to convey my deep and honest apology to the people of Italy and the whole world for the damage done to the assets that are actually the heritage of all mankind, he wrote in the letter.

Italian Il Messaggero published the letter first.

– Should be more calculated

– Very serious

Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano has touched on this from the start.

– I take it very seriously, undignified and a sign of rudeness that a tourist defaces one of the most famous places in the world to scratch his fiancé’s name, he wrote on Twitter.

Ivan could potentially face a summons and prison sentence. based on Sky News he risked a fine of up to about NOK 175,000.

– I commend those who preserved the invaluable historical and artistic value of the Colosseum with dedication and care. (…) It is with great shame that I did not understand the history of the monument until after what happened, Ivan wrote in an apology letter.

Berlusconi is dead: This is a scandal

– Typical foreigners

Now the case is being investigated, and Ivan is suspected of damaging cultural monuments. Her boyfriend is not a suspect in the case.

The 27-year-old defender, Alexandro Maria Tirelli, blamed the man’s ignorance for the incident:

– He is a typical foreigner who believes that everything is allowed in Italy, even actions that would be severely punished in their own homeland, he told Il Messaggero.

The Colosseum is an amphitheater in Rome. It is the largest in the world and seats around 50,000 spectators, according to the report The Big Lexicon of Norway (SNL). It was started by Emperor Vespasian after 70 AD and completed under his sons Titus and Domitianus.

A formal dedication took place under Titus in AD 80, but the upper floors were completed under Domitian. It has always been considered one of the most impressive architectural structures in the world and is a masterpiece of Roman construction art, writes SNL.