British artist's unique 'tidal' art gallery at Maldives resort is destroyed by police with pickaxes after it is deemed 'offensive to Islam'
- The gallery opened at the Fairmont Maldives Sirru Fen Fushi in July featuring semi-submerged sculptures
- They were designed by British artist Jason deCaires Taylor and the artwork was known as the 'Coralarium'
- But outgoing Maldives president Abdulla Yameen ruled that the unusual sculptures were 'offensive to Islam'
- The day before a presidential election, which he lost, he ordered police to destroy the tidal gallery
Police armed with pickaxes and power tools have destroyed the world's first tidal gallery at a holiday resort in the Maldives after it was deemed 'offensive to Islam'.
The gallery, at the Fairmont Maldives Sirru Fen Fushi, which opened in July, featured semi-submerged exhibits that disappeared and reappeared as the tide went in and out.
But Abdulla Yameen, the outgoing president of the tourist nation, home to 340,000 Sunni Muslims, ordered the sculptures to be demolished. Islam, the official religion in the Maldives, bans the depiction of idols, and the work provoked some criticism from clerics even though the statues have no religious symbols or meaning.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/t...ive-Islam.html
Lets all rush their for a holiday..utterly vile