Museum collection smashed to bits

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LONDON (Reuters) - It was every museum-goer's nightmare -- a stumble, a crash and thousands of pounds worth of historic fragments lying on the floor.

The incident happened last week at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, which for decades has displayed a group of Qing dynasty Chinese vases on a window sill.

A hapless visitor tripped on his shoelace, tumbled down a flight of stairs and crashed into the vases, smashing them into smithereens.

The man, who has not been named, left the museum shaken but undamaged -- in sharp contrast to the vases.

"It was a most unfortunate and regrettable but we are glad that the visitor involved was able to leave the museum unharmed," museum director Duncan Robinson said Monday.

"Whilst the method of displaying objects is always under review, it is important not to over-react and make the Museum's collections less accessible to the visiting public," he added in a statement.

The priceless vases, from the late 17th or early 18th century, were donated to the museum in 1948 and have become one of its most recognizable exhibits.

Shocked but determined, museum staff have vowed to glue the pieces back together again.

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I can so see myself doing something like this. I've tripped down more stairs than I care to admit, and my shoelaces are either tied in double knots or completely undone---and it's too bad I can't find "cool" velcro shoes because that would take care of a lot of banged elbows, scraped knees, and visits to the emergency to room to sew up a split chin or forehead.

That sounds like something Id do.

I can see myself determinedly gluing the fragments back together.

Which knob would leave priceless vases on a window ledge on a staircase? You can make things very accessible to the public without putting them in a bloody stupid place like that.

I don't know, but it sure made for a great laugh. It really is absurd, but I don't think they ever expected a Real Life Mr. Bean/Inspector Clouseau to knock them to smithereens. I mean, they were up there for a long time without incident.

Oh yeah I agree that it was rather funny, you got to laugh at it. Its just I dont know what Im laughing at:

a) the fact that the vases were priceless and now some poor sap has glue them back together again (they won't look the same, everyone will see the cracks and they won't be priceless anymore!! !! !! !)

b)the utter stupidity surrounding it creating the situation in the first place

They are going to glue them. I cant beleive he didnt get hurt.

Hows it stupid? He didnt know he was going to trip. What kind of moron put them somewhere they could fall?

If they were so valuable and rare why wherent they better protected?

I believe that he's been banned from visiting the museum ever.

Why? He wasnt the one who put them somewhere stupid.