A BELGIAN ARCHITECT in charge of renovating the Brussels Stock Exchange has described her reaction to damage caused to a statue by an Irish tourist as “very, very sad”. 

Video posted to social media showed an Irish man climbing onto the statue on the newly renovated building. While trying to climb down from the top of the statue, the arm of an angel gave way under him and broke off. 

The man was later arrested by police in a fast food restaurant, according to reports in Belgian media. 

The statue of a lion held by an angel is one of two that flank the entrance to the historic building. The statue’s renovation originally cost €17,600. 

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme today, Nel Van De Vannet, architect and CEO of the brussels Stock Exchange Renovation Project, said that “it is a symbolically important building for Brussels and the Belgians.”

“After three years of renovation, this weekend there was a grand opening,” she said.

She explained that the building is a gathering point where residents of the city gather in times of celebration and mourning, as it was in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks that took place in the city in 2016. 

“So we saw after two days of opening, a happy Irish tourist breaking off the hand of one of the angels that holds the lion, we were very, very sad and upset.

“It will take probably two months again before we can see the whole lion with the hand intact again,” she explained. 

Asked how much the repair is likely to cost, Van De Vannet speculated that it would be between 5,000 and 7,000 euros, adding that since the Irish man is now in police custody, he is likely to  be footing the bill.