Police investigate how Rome's beloved Bernini elephant sculpture lost the tip of its tusk — again

Audio By Carbonatix

ROME (AP) — Italian police are investigating how one of Rome’s most beloved monuments, the elephant sculpture designed by Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, lost the tip of its left tusk — again.

Police found the 11-centimeter (4-inch) marble fragment near the statue over the weekend. They said on Wednesday that they had determined it wasn’t original to Bernini’s work but was added on during restoration work in 1977.

The same tip had already broken off during an act of vandalism in 2016, Rome’s city hall said.

Police were now reviewing security cameras to try to figure out who, if anyone, was responsible for breaking it off a second time.

The stocky little elephant, not far from Rome’s Pantheon, is a frequent stop for tourists. Pope Alexander VII commissioned Rome’s most famous Baroque sculptor, Bernini, to design it after Dominican friars discovered a small Egyptian obelisk in the grounds of their nearby convent, which is adjacent to the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.

The elephant, located in the Piazza della Minerva in front of the basilica, holds the obelisk on its back.

According to the Rome city hall website, Bernini and the friars disagreed about the work: The artist believed the weight of the obelisk could be borne by the elephant’s four legs, but the friars insisted the obelisk would be more stable with a stone support under its belly.

They won the argument, and the stocky look gave the elephant the nickname “Minerva’s Piglet,” because with such short legs and the central support, it looks more like a pig than an elephant.

According to popular legend, Bernini took his revenge against the friars by facing the rear of the elephant with its tail lifted toward their convent.