Ancient statue that fell foul of censors at Facebook

FACEBOOK has apologised for censoring a picture of a 30,000year-old nude statue.

It banned images of the prehistoric Venus of Willendorf figure, considered a masterpiece of the paleolithic era.

Italian arts activist Laura Ghianda posted a picture showing the carving – depicting a nude woman – on the social networking site, which went viral. After it was censored she said: ‘The war on human culture and modern intellectualism will not be tolerated.’

Her outrage was echoed by Vienna’s Natural History Museum, where the statue, pictured, is displayed.

The museum said: ‘ Let the Venus be naked! Since 29,500 years she shows herself as prehistoric fertility symbol without any clothes.’

A Facebook spokesman apologised and said: ‘Our advertising policies do not allow nudity ... but we have an exception for statues.

‘Therefore, the ad with this image should have been approved.’

The 4in figurine was discovered in the Austrian village of Willendorf in the early 20th century.

It dates from the early Stone Age, and is ‘the most popular and bestknown prehistoric representation of a woman worldwide’, according to the museum’s director-general Christian Koeberl.