Museum no longer allows visitors to kick Virgin Mary display

Jardine Malado Thursday, October 20, 2016

Statue of the Virgin Mary in front of St. James Church in Medjugorje, Bosnia Herzegovina. | Wikimedia Commons/gnuckx

The new National Museum of Estonia will no longer allow its visitors to shatter a holographic image of Virgin Mary by kicking the base of the display case.

The museum, which opened in the town of Tartu, unveiled the exhibit as part of its celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. When users kick the plate at the base of the display, a holographic image of the Virgin Mary shatters and is replaced with the word "Reformation."

The display provoked the outrage of several religious leaders including Archibishop Urmas Viilma of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

According to LifeSiteNews, the image of the Virgin Mary still shatters at scheduled intervals but it is no longer activated by the kick.

Varro Vooglaind, head of the Estonia Foundation for Family and Tradition, acknowledged the museum's decision.

"Of course we want the exhibit removed entirely," he told LifeSiteNews. "But we welcome this change. It is an outrage, really very brutal and banal to allow people to kick an image of Our Lady," he added.

Vooglaid said that a public relations officer for the museum, Kaarel Tarand, publicly admitted that the display was intended as a mockery.

"He basically admitted it was a way of insulting religion. He said it shows that Estonia is a secular society, where it is allowed to mock religion. But when the national museum does it, it is insulting religion in the name of the Estonian state," said Vooglaid.

Archbishop Viilma said the exhibit not only offends Lutherans but also Catholics and Orthodox Christians. He added that Estonia was dedicated to the Virgin Mary 300 years before the Protestant Reformation and that the country is popularly known as the "Land of Mary."

Mart Helme, leader of the Conservative Party, said that the display could illicit negative reactions from the Russian-speaking community who are passionate about their religion.

"The image should be removed as soon as possible because the virtual destruction the authors offer insults the feelings of religious Russian-speaking residents and hinders their integration," Helme said in a statement, as quoted by Catholic Herald.