Varieties of Historical Graffiti
In which I examine the different ways graffiti has been employed in the past—and roll my eyes at the shocked reports of visitors defacing the Colosseum. Have they never visited a historic site before?
Last year a young man was caught carving his name - along with his girlfriend’s - into the walls of the Colosseum in Rome. You probably know this, because it made headlines all around the world: “Shocking Video Shows Man Carving Name Into Roman Colosseum!”, “Who Was The Tourist Who Carved His Name Into Rome’s Colosseum?”, “Tourist Who Carved on Wall Unaware of Arena’s Age…”.
My favorite was probably “Italy: Man Filmed Carving His Name on the Colosseum Lives in Britain”, solely because if he had been an American we would have never heard the end of it.
Italian authorities vowed to find the man and punish him to the full extent of the law, and of course I applaud that. But at the same time, I couldn’t help wondering: have they ever been to the Colosseum before?
{Chenonceau, France}
It’s shocking how much graffiti has been carved into not only the Colosseum, but into historical monuments across Europe and the UK. It was one of the things that surprised me the most in my travels.
I was reminded of this while I was writing my story about the Loire Valley last week. The caryatids in the gardens of Chenonceau look beautiful from afar, but upon closer inspection they are absolutely covered with hundreds of years of defacement: carved names, symbols, hearts. Plain old lines.
It’s not just Chenonceau, you can find the same graffiti at Chambord and in castles and monuments all over France…and all over Europe. After I stumbled on this photo I went digging through my photo archives in search of other examples.
{Stratford-Upon-Avon, England}
For centuries, visitors to Shakespeare’s birthplace etched their names onto the panes of glass of the window in the room where he was born. Old photographs show that not only did they scratch their names into the glass, they covered the walls with pen and paint, too - the wall graffiti has since been covered up by whitewash.
The signatures date from the beginning of the 19th century to the 1960s. Among them are the names of some pretty famous people: the actress Ellen Terry and writers Sir Walter Scott and Thomas Carlyle. Charles Dickens, who helped to fund the preservation of the home, is thought to have been among those who signed the wall.
Shakespeare inspires modern graffiti as well. At “Juliet’s house” in Verona, Italy the walls of not only the house but nearby businesses are covered with names, declarations of love, as well as just plain scribbles. Local officials have tried to crack down on the practice to no avail…
Meanwhile, in English cathedrals, it is tombs that seem to be the target. Some tombs seem to be targeted more than others, like this one at Bath Abbey.
{Somerset, England}
And at Wells Cathedral, the tomb of Thomas Boleyn - distant relative of Anne. Several more tombs at Wells - including the tomb of Ralph of Shrewsbury, Bishop of Bath and Wells - are even more badly defaced, with initials and names covering virtually every inch of free marble.
Honestly, I don’t quite understand any of it. Is it a kind of superstition, or a good luck gesture? Carve your name into Shakespeare’s window and you’ll write the novel or play of your dreams? Cut your initials into the face of this bishop and he will cure your illness?
(The tomb of Ralph of Shrewsbury is carved of alabaster and not marble. Is it possible that it is as simple as that…his tomb has been targeted simply because it is softer?)
{Tarascon, France}
The carvings at the Chateau de Tarascon near Arles in Provence tell a more interesting story. They start out simply enough in the entry room, with the kind of 19th-century tourist graffiti that you find in every castle in the country.
But the fortress-like chateau was used for centuries as a prison - for the detainment of criminals, political opponents and prisoners of war. Hundreds of carved inscriptions - most dating from the 17th and 19th centuries - tell the prisoners’ stories.
“HERE IS 3 DAVIDS IN ONE MESS
PRISONERS WE ARE IN DISTRESS
BY THE FRENCH WE WAS CAUGHT
AND TO THIS PRISON WE WAS BROUGHT -
TAKEN IN THE ZEPHYR SLOOP 1778”
One prisoner - a master shipbuilder who was imprisoned in the 1480s - filled a single room with carved graffiti depicting warships, battlements and ship designs.
No name, though - he is known simply as “The Catalan Prisoner”.
Prisoners from Italy, England, Ireland, Holland and Spain carved their names into these walls.
How many of them died here? How many of their loved ones ever learned of their fate? This graffiti feels different. It is a record - a testament to the very existence of hundreds of men.
People from the past have left their marks everywhere. Names and drawings. Symbols: mystical and religious. Marks of protection, and notes of remembrance.
Schoolboys have carved their names on their desks since the beginning of time. Lewd and comic graffiti was uncovered when the streets of Pompeii were excavated. Prisoners in cells all over the world - not just the south of France - have written their names on stone, sometimes for the final time.
In Florence, a carved drawing of a man on the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio is believed to be by the artist Michelangelo. Stonemasons and woodworkers in the world’s great cathedrals have left their initials, proud of their work.
Young students have drawn a heart and connected their name with their lover’s until the end of time…or the next natural disaster.
They’re all saying the same thing, of course: I made this. I laughed. I loved. I was here.
We all want to be remembered. We all want to leave our mark on the world. It’s just better if we don’t leave it on historical landmarks.
Interesting!
I Graffiti di Venezia is a book (and Instagram account) all about the graffiti in Venice. I am using as a nudge to get me to go to parts of town I rarely explore