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The National Gallery has announced that it is banning visitors from bringing any liquids into the building from today (Friday, October 18) until further notice.
Over the past two years, several paintings have been subject to protests by Just Stop Oil activists demanding an end to fossil fuel use. A can of tomato soup was thrown on Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’, two protesters glued themselves to John Constable’s ‘The Hay Wain’ and the glass covering Velázquez’s ‘Rokeby Venus’ was smashed.
All the paintings are protected by a glass, so while there was some damage to the frames, the artworks themselves were left unharmed.
In a statement, the National Gallery said: ‘The collection we hold is irreplaceable, and with each attack, we have been forced to consider putting more barriers between the people and their artworks to preserve these fragile objects for future generations.
‘Unfortunately, we have now reached a point where we have been forced to act to protect our visitors, staff and collection.’
There are a few exceptions to the no liquids rule. The gallery will still allow baby formula, expressed milk, and prescription medicines.
If you’re planning on heading to the landmark any time soon, there will be additional bag checks as part of the tightened security, so the gallery has warned visitors to expect longer queues.
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