In Dublin, tourists have been urged to stop "patting the bust" of a popular statue

Tourists are asked not to touch the breast of the statue of Molly Malone / photo ua.depositphotos.com The city council of the capital of Ireland, Dublin, is considering measures to protect the statue of Molly Malone in the city center because tourists literally rubbed her breast to a shine.

According to The Telegraph, tourists traditionally touch the iconic monument depicting a fictional street vendor for good luck. However, disgruntled local residents launched a campaign to stop this “disrespectful” and “misogynistic” practice.

“Most people touch her breasts for good luck, it’s a misogynistic tradition. A lot of people make noise around her, kiss her on the cheek, kiss her breasts, it’s all inappropriate. It makes her a laughing stock and doesn’t give her the status of a national treasure,” the initiator said. company, 22-year-old student Tilly Cripwell, who regularly plays music near the monument.

For its part, the Dublin authorities have promised to consider ways to protect the statue - from education to erecting fences around it or even moving the monument to another place. They said that the monument is deteriorating from constant touching, and money from the city budget will be needed for its restoration.

Who is Molly Malone

A girl named Molly Malone is the heroine of the popular Irish song Molly Malone, also known as Cockles and Mussels and In Dublin’s fair city.

The song was first published in 1870-1880, and later it became the unofficial anthem of the Irish capital. Today, it is actively used by fans of football and rugby teams, and it also sounded in Stanley Kubrick’s cult film “A Clockwork Orange”.

The heroine of the song is a fictional cute girl who drove a cart with clams and mussels through the streets of the city, and later died of a fever. After that, her ghost allegedly continued to wander the streets of the city, shouting “Clams and mussels, alive, alive, oh!”.

Over the years, the image of Molly Malone has become covered with many urban legends that contradict each other: some say about her as a woman who sold shellfish by day and a body at night, and others, on the contrary, as a girl who, against all odds, avoided prostitution.

A bronze monument to Molly Malone appeared in honor of celebrating the first millennium of Dublin in 1987 - at the intersection of Grafton Street and Suffolk Street. The life-size statue depicts a young girl in a 17th century dress with a deep neckline. It is said that her cleavage is so deep because women in those days breastfed in public and such a dress was comfortable for that.

Critics did not like the statue, but the townspeople loved it. Nowadays, the image of Molly Malone is actively used in the production of souvenir products, the monument is one of the most photographed places in Dublin and a meeting place. At the same time, many tourists believe that if they touch the breast of the Molly Malone statue, seven years of happiness awaits them.

As UNIAN reported, earlier the Italian parliament increased punishment for those who cause damage to monuments and cultural objects. In particular, the adopted law provides for fines of up to 60,000 euros for vandalism.

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