A glass barrier has been erected around the tomb of Oscar Wilde to deter people from leaving damaging lipstick kisses on the edifice. Wilde, one of Britain's and the world's most articulate and sharply witty authors, was born in 1854 in Ireland but spent most of his literary life in London. A flamboyant aesthete, he was jailed for being homosexual and emerged a totally broken man. After spending his last years in France, Wilde died in poverty in 1900 and was finally interred in Paris' Pere Lachaise cemetery. The inspiring mausoleum erected over his grave in 1914 has become a major tourist attraction and a tradition has emerged of leaving lipstick kisses on its surface. But the greasy kisses seep into the stonework, requiring harsh cleaning to remove and the stonework is becoming more damaged and porous as a result. The Irish government funded restoration, which was publicly revealed late last week. The mausoleum, featuring a flying, male angel in Assyrian style, has been the victim of more agressive damage in the past. In the early 1960s a vandal hacked off the figure's genitals.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 4th December 2011 - 4:52pm