Londons National Gallery is putting in place new rules starting 10/20/24 to stop people from bringing drinks inside (except for baby milk and medicine) Its also making visitors go through metal detectors and have their bags looked at
These changes come after lots of attacks where people threw soup and other stuff on famous paintings to protest about different things. The museum says it has to do this to keep its art safe‚ but it doesnt want to make it hard for people to see the paintings
Over the past couple years‚ protesters have been messing with art all over the world Some did it to talk about climate change‚ while others did it because theyʼre mad about whats happening in Gaza. For example‚ some people threw soup on the Mona Lisa in Paris earlier this year
The museum people say these attacks are causing problems:
- Making visitors and workers upset
- Costing money to fix damaged stuff
- Making it harder for everyone to enjoy the art
These actions cause small amounts of damage and disruption to bring to attention the enormous damage and destruction that our government is supporting
Just Stop Oil (a group that does these protests) says theyre doing this to make people pay attention to big problems like climate change. They want to talk to the museum bosses about it
The National Gallery is trying to figure out how to keep its art safe while still letting people come see it. Its a tricky balance between protecting paintings and letting everyone enjoy them