A work of art that appears in countless tourist photos was broken by a man climbing on furniture at a Grand Canyon historical site, the national park said.
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The public’s help is being sought to identify the man, who left before rangers arrived.
A park news release on Wednesday detailed the incident that occurred June 17 at Desert View Watchtower:
A visitor to the tower’s ground-floor main room climbed onto a handcrafted log bench near the fireplace to take a photo, witnesses said. The bench tipped, and the man put out a hand to steady himself, knocking a Hopi headpiece off a ledge. The wooden headpiece struck the stone floor and broke.
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The man, described as being in his 60s or 70s, apparently suffered a minor injury and was tended to by employees with a first-aid kit. He and a woman thought to be his daughter left “shortly afterward,” the report said.
The broken headpiece, painted in turquoise, orange and yellow, was created by noted Hopi artist Fred Kabotie. Photos of the room show headpieces on ledges flanking the fireplace about 6 feet off the floor.
Kabotie also painted murals in the tower, which opened in 1932.
The park’s release asked witnesses or anybody else with information about the incident to contact Grand Canyon’s law enforcement rangers. No photos of the man were included. He was described as “Caucasian-American,” about 6 feet tall, slender, clean-shaven, with white or gray hair.
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