A group of the world's art museums has banded together to condemn a spate of recent attacks on artworks by climate activists.
The National Art Gallery of Australia was targeted this week by climate change protesters, who glued themselves to Andy Warhol’s Campbell's Soup Cans.
The statement, released by the International Council of Museums in Germany on Friday said activists "severely underestimate the fragility of these irreplaceable objects, which must be preserved as part of our world cultural heritage."
"As museum directors entrusted with the care of these works, we have been deeply shaken by their risky endangerment.
"Museums are places where people from a wide variety of backgrounds can engage in dialogue and which therefore enable social discourse."
The statement went on to say the the core tasks of museums as institutions – collecting, researching, sharing and preserving – are more relevant than ever.
"We will continue to advocate for direct access to our cultural heritage. And we will maintain the museum as a free space for social communication," the statement read.
The statement was co-signed by 93 museum directors, including those from the Louvre in Paris, the Prado in Madrid and the National Gallery, London.
Protesters have vandalised some of the world's most well-known paintings including Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer in the Netherlands, Claude Monet's Les Meules (Haystacks) in Germany, Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers in London and Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa in Paris.
The vandalism has ranged from throwing food to people gluing themselves to the paintings.
A man was arrested and taken into psychiatric care in May after smearing cake on the Mona Lisa, while two protesters in Melbourne were arrested in October for gluing themselves to the protective covering of a Picasso print at the National Gallery of Victoria.
A variety of groups including Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil have claimed responsibility for the art attacks.
