When Selfies Go Wrong: Museumgoer Knocks Over 18th Century Sculpture Trying to Take the Perfect Picture

Brasileiro destrói estátua de 300 anos ao tirar selfie em museu de Lisboa https://t.co/xSAuJXM9YB pic.twitter.com/1AT86T1KXJ

— UOL (@UOL) November 8, 2016

The urge to take a selfie is strong. We know. Why take a regular old picture of something when you can take a picture with it? We’ve all been there. But maybe the urge to take a selfie can be tempered, you know, maybe by not getting a little too close to an ancient sculpture that shouldn’t be touched? Unfortunately, the selfie urge was apparently too great for one museumgoer.

On November 8, a tourist from Brazil came face to face with an 18th century sculpture of Saint Michael in Lisbon’s National Museum of Ancient Art in Portugal. He was so moved, apparently, that he decided to take a selfie. Sadly, it will be the last time the 300-year-old statue takes a picture with someone for a long time.

The man got a little too close, bumping the statue just enough to send it sprawling to the ground.

Thankfully, according to the museum’s deputy director, José Alberto Seabra Carvalho, “The statue is very affected in the wings, in one arm and mantle. The damage is severe but reversible.”

Check out what the statue looked like before the infamous selfie:

Foto tirada por mim com cuidado!

A photo posted by Paulo Guilherme (@penaspg) on Nov 7, 2016 at 11:27am PST

Maybe this person’s phone should be put up on display as a replacement, with the title as “A Most Destructive Picture Taken on This Phone, 2016 A.D.”