http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/20/nude-hercules-statue-gets-removable-penis-for-special-events/
Nude Hercules statue gets removable penis for special events
He was famed for sleeping with 50 women in one night, but a statue of the mythic hero Hercules has suffered the indignity of having his manhood repeatedly snapped off.
A nude statue of the Greek symbol of virility and strength whose penis was repeatedly broken by vandals has been given a removeable phallus that can be fitted for “special occasions”.
The three-metre statue, which stands in a park in Arcachon, south-western France, was deprived of its member so often that the local council decided it would be best to leave it off — except during public events or ceremonies.
The mayor, Yves Foulon told the Sud-Ouest newspaper: “I wouldn’t wish anyone — not even my worst enemies — to go through what has been inflicted on this statue.”
Deputy mayor Martine Phellipot, who is a doctor, came up with the solution, inspired by her medical background.
Although Hercules was endowed with extraordinary strength in classical mythology and slept with 50 daughters of King Thespius in a single night, according to one version of the legend, Dr Phellipot’s diagnosis was that his statue suffered from a crucial weakness.
“Hercules has a fragile virility,” she said. “We chose the option of making a removable prosthesis which is placed on the statue before each ceremony. It’s the only way to avoid constantly chasing after his anatomy.”
It is not the first time that the statue’s penis has caused problems. When the statue was erected in the Parc Mauresque in 1948 to symbolise the valiant struggle of the French Resistance against the Nazi occupation, a number of influential ladies of Arcachon complained that it was over-endowed.
The sculptor, Claude Bouscau, was twice forced to shorten the phallus to render the statue inoffensive in their eyes.
When the penis is removed, the statue of Hercules — or ‘Heracles’ as the heroic son of the god Zeus and a mortal woman was known to the Ancient Greeks — looks rather forlorn, with a thin metal rod in place of his male organ.
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