Vandalism discovered in museum’s arboretum
John Graydon Smith’s morning started on a somber note Monday. The usual morning cleanup of Reading Public Museum’s arboretum and Trudy’s Garden revealed an unwelcome sight.
Benches and trash cans were flipped over. Wood from broken benches was in the Wyomissing Creek, which runs through the property. A marble statue was toppled over off its base and lay in pieces on the ground.
“This is super disheartening,” Smith, the museum’s director and CEO, said while observing the destroyed sculpture. “We did all this work and then this.”
Smith contacted Wyomissing police to report the vandalism and the area around the sculpture was sectioned off.
The sculpture “Duet” by artist Miklos L. Sebek was installed in December 2018 and was a gift from the artist. At this time, Smith does not know what the plan will be for the space the sculpture once stood but will be contacting the artist. That phone call was just one of the uncomfortable phone calls Smith needed to make in relation to the vandalism.
“This is destroyed,” he said about the sculpture. “We never had a sculpture destroyed like this.”
Smith is waiting to hear from insurance but told police he estimates damage to the sculpture would be in the hundreds of thousands. The exact cost was not available as of Monday afternoon.
The damage was done between Sunday night and Monday morning. There was no damage Sunday afternoon, and Smith said someone using the path around 7 p.m. Sunday did not notice any damage or unusual activity in the area.
Neighbors reported hearing a loud bang between 2 and 4 p.m. Monday, and Smith believes that may have been the sound of the sculpture being pushed over.
Police were on the scene investigating Monday morning. While working with police, Smith will begin the insurance process and the museum will be looking at security footage.
Following damage to an animatronic dinosaur at the museum in 2016, higher quality security cameras were installed at the museum. In determining the path the person(s) responsible for the damage took and the one bridge crossing the creek being inaccessible, Smith hopes the person(s) passed through the parking lot and were caught by the security cameras.
The museum has received tips from neighbors which Smith will pass on to the Wyomissing police.
In the meantime, the arboretum and garden are being cleaned up. While showing the damage in the garden, Smith along with buildings and grounds manager Daniel Runkel returned a bench to its proper place.
“Making it safe for visitors is a big thing,” Smith said. “We’re removing the broken sculpture and damaged benches for safety’s sake.”
The benches will be repaired as soon as possible.
“With all the work we’ve done in adding the path and the money spent for the arboretum, incidents like this mean we may have to take a look at how we spend our resources,” Smith said.
Since news broke about the vandalism, the museum has been asked about accepting donations. Smith said the museum is accepting donations by mail, at the museum’s front desk and through its website. The museum is at 500 Museum Road in Reading.