Pilgrims shocked when women stand without clothe as praying Virgin Mary

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In the French pilgrimage town of Lourdes, a controversial artist was arrested when she stood completely without clothe as a praying Virgin Mary in front of the famous cave.

The Luxembourg Déborah de Robertis (34) only had a blue veil in her hair. On video footage that was posted on YouTube and in the meantime removed, you can see how pilgrims walk on the woman to cover her.

The incident occurred Friday evening at 5.40 pm, in the middle of the sanctuary of Lourdes and in front of many believers. The police picked up the woman for exhibitionism and placed her under supervision for a few hours, says Pierre Aurignac, the prosecutor of Tarbes.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes has already announced that it will file a complaint. “We condemn this act of exhibitionism that shocked the believers present”, it said in a statement.

“It happened with premeditation and on the pretext that it was art. We regret such a contempt of religious consciousness and the freedom of worship. We demand respect for the sacred nature of our places of worship, as decreed in the principle of religious freedom.”

It is not the first time that the artist ends up in jail for such a performance. She also occasionally sat without wearing anything and wide-legged in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. She then received a community service of 35 hours, not for exhibitionism but for biting a guard.

In 2014 she also visited the nearby Musée d’Orsay. There she recreated the very explicit pose of the model of L’Origine du Monde, a painting by Gustave Courbet. And in 2016 she did so at L’Olympia by Edouard Manet. Each time she got away with it, saying that she was not an exhibitionist but an artist.

Déborah de Robertis is a former member of Femen and with her performances she wants to question the place of women in society and art. When she was previously in court, she said I would do it again because it is the role of her as an artist.