Landmark ‘big potato’ monument vandalized on New Year’s Day
Written by Angie Sharma on January 5, 2022
Though officials had high hopes for a big potato statue in Cyprus, someone had other plans for the unusual monument.
The 16-foot-tall sculpture shaped like a potato was chopped down at around 3:30 a.m. on the first day of the year, causing around $5,400 in damages.
Nicknamed “the big potato,” the monument was erected in the town of Xylophagou in October to honor the nation’s staple crop.
It immediately went viral on Twitter as tourists lined up to take pictures beside the sculpture.
But hours after ringing in the New Year, unknown perpetrators vandalized the attraction.
Police received complaints on Saturday morning regarding “the big potato.”
Former Cyprus ambassador to Britain Euripides Evriviades compared the monument to other national beacons like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.
Xylophagou town representative George Tasou said that crop helped the village grow into a community of 10,000 people.
“It will be a landmark,” he said of the monument according to the New York Post.
