Visitor trips over shoelace at British museum, shatters Chinese vases

[proud2BlibKansan]

Visitor trips over shoelace at British museum, shatters Chinese vases
CAMBRIDGE, England (AP) — A visitor to a British museum tripped on his shoelace, stumbled down a stairway and fell into a display of centuries-old Chinese vases, shattering them into "very small pieces," officials said Monday.

The three Qing dynasty vases, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, had been donated to the Fitzwilliam Museum in the university city of Cambridge in 1948 and were among its best-known artifacts. They sat on the window sill beside the staircase for 40 years.

"It was a most unfortunate and regrettable accident, but we are glad that the visitor involved was able to leave the museum unharmed," museum director Duncan Robinson said.

The museum declined to identify the man who tripped on a loose shoelace Wednesday.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-01-30-museum-mishap_x.htm

[Dave Reynolds]

1. I'm glad the man is okay,

and I have to say that a window sill is a bad place for artifacts.

[IcyPeas]

2. where was Bush today?

[Lavender Brown]

3. I saw the photo of the incident on the news

It's crazy. I can't believe they had priceless art displayed haphazardly like that.

[leftofthedial]

4. I thought Gerald Ford died