MONA LISA MUGGING -- Should souvenir coffee cups be banned from the Louvre museum gift shop?

By a unanimous 3-0 vote, the Executive Board of Directors of Tacky Tourist Photos unconditionally condemns the Russian tourist who threw her coffee mug at the Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre.

The London Telegraph recreates the scene here:

“Screams erupted from the 40-odd tourists jostling for position around Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic painted lady when the empty terracotta mug flew over their heads and smashed into the portrait.

“The Russian woman is thought to have bought it minutes earlier at the museum gift shop.”

Although the Mona Lisa is protected by bulletproof, mug-proof glass, we also condemn the Louvre security guards and French police for their weak response to the attack. Apparently, the woman is now staring at ink blots from a psychiatry couch instead of the appropriate punishment — being pummelled with coffee mugs.

“The Russian is being held in custody and has reportedly undergone a psychological examination,” The Telegraph reports.

“Doctors were trying to assess whether she was suffering from Stendhal Syndrome, a rare condition in which often perfectly sane individuals momentarily lose all reason and attack a work of art.”

Other press reports speculate that the Mona Lisa mugger was upset about being rejected for French citizenship. This would make the incident all the more outrageous.

The Mona Lisa is an Italian masterpiece. Attacking Italian art to retaliate against France is like punching an Egyptian mummy in the face to protest North Korean missile tests.

And we strongly condemn those missile tests, too.

(Note to TTP fans: After two consecutive days of condemning things, we return to our traditional photo line-up tomorrow.)