Following the vandalism of a Chinese mosaic outside Brown College last Tuesday night, the University students who worked on the project hope to put the incident behind them and finish building the piece.
The vandalism occurred between 12:30 and 1 a.m. last Tuesday. A total of 12 buddhas were damaged, five of them beyond repair.
By the end of the night, over $360 dollars worth of damage had been done to the Chinese mosaic, University Police Sgt. Melissa Fielding said.
Police have no suspects and no arrests have been made, but the culprits are described as three white males, Fielding said.
The sculpture, sponsored by the University's Art Board, was handcrafted by University students for the enjoyment of the Charlottesville community -- it overlooks Rt. 29 from the hill next to Brown College and Newcomb plaza.
Although deeply saddened by the incident, it came as no surprise to Brown College Principal Erik Middlefort.
"I thought it was a sitting duck. It was beautiful and fragile. Beautiful and fragile things don't do well around here. I can't say that I am surprised. It has happened before," Middlefort said.
The Buddha mosaic forms the Chinese ideogram "root," "origin" or "family."
"The piece was vulnerable and out on the public space. This incident injured a few [buddhas], but even those will be replaced", Assoc. Art Prof. William Bennett said.
Bennett went on to say that the vandalism will not keep students from completing construction.
The remaining 120 buddhas will be put in place soon.
Although the display will suffer no long-term damage, the vandalism has left some questioning how someone could have committed such an act.
"It's really sad. It's sad that there are people that don't tolerate beautiful, fragile things. It's incomprehensible and disgusting," Middlefort said.
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