Laszlo Toth (born 1940), is a Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

-born Australian geologist

Geologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

. He achieved worldwide notoriety when he vandalised Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...

's Pietà

Pietà (Michelangelo)

The Pietà is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. It is the first of a number of works of the same theme by the artist. The statue was commissioned for the French cardinal Jean de Billheres, who was a representative in...

 statue on 21 May 1972. Toth was not charged with any criminal offence after the incident. He was hospitalised in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 for two years. On his release, he was immediately deported to Australia, where he apparently still resides.

Early life

Little is known of Toth's early life, apart from his birth in Hungary in 1940.

Vandalism of Pietà

Toth, wielding a geologist's hammer

Geologist's hammer

A geologist's hammer, rock hammer, rock pick or geological pick is a hammer used for splitting and breaking rocks. In field geology, they are used to obtain a fresh surface of a rock in order to determine its composition, nature, mineralogy, history and field estimate of rock strength...

 and shouting, "I am Jesus Christ — risen from the dead", attacked the statue, with fifteen blows removed the Virgin's arm at the elbow, knocked off a chunk of her nose, and chipped one of her eyelids. Toth was subdued by bystanders, including American sculptor Bob Cassilly

Bob Cassilly

Robert James Cassilly Jr. was an American sculptor, entrepreneur, and museum director. Based in St...

, who was the first person to pull him away from The Pietà. He was never charged with the crime, in view of his apparent insanity. On 29 January 1973, he was committed to an Italian psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospital

Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

. He was released on 9 February 1975, and was immediately deported to Australia where he had studied prior to the attack; Australian authorities did not detain him. He resides in a nursing home in Strathfield, NSW

Strathfield, New South Wales

Strathfield is an Inner West suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Strathfield is located 14 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Literature and popular culture

• Toth is the eponymous inspiration for books of letters by Don Novello
  Don Novello
  Don Novello is an American writer, film director, producer, actor, singer, and comedian. Novello is best known for his work on NBC's Saturday Night Live, from 1977 until 1980, and then 1985 until 1986, often as the character "Father Guido Sarducci". Novello has appeared as "Sarducci" on many...
  
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