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Crafted from white marble and adorned with graffiti, the substantial bust vanished in 1988. Now, 37 years later, the wide-eyed sculpture that once graced the grave of American singer Jim Morrison has been uncovered, which Paris prosecutors referred to as a “chance discovery”.
French police reported that they stumbled upon the bust of the Doors’ frontman while conducting a search in connection with a fraud case. The announcement, shared on social media on Monday, featured a photo of the aging sculpture, still covered in graffiti and with a piece of its nose missing, reportedly taken by souvenir hunters before it disappeared.
Meant as a tribute to Morrison, the sculpture was created after his death by Croatian artist Mladen Mikulin. It was installed at his grave at Paris’s Père-Lachaise cemetery in 1981, a decade after the singer passed away in the French capital at 27.
While the precise details surrounding Morrison’s death remain unclear, most early reports indicate that the singer died of cardiac arrest in his bathtub.
From its position atop Morrison’s gravestone, the statue welcomed numerous visitors who came to take photos, lay flowers, and – prior to the placement of a guard – smoke pot and celebrate with one of Père-Lachaise’s most iconic residents.
Seven years after the bust was installed, it vanished. Speculations emerged about what could have occurred: some claimed that two fans managed to load the 128kg bust onto a moped in the dead of night; others promoted the unfounded theory that local authorities had concealed the sculpture for its protection.
By 1994, after several years without any sign of the bust, two Americans were apprehended for attempting to install their own bronze copy at Morrison’s grave site.
Todd Mitchell, who claimed he traveled from Utah and spent a significant portion of his retirement savings to recreate the bust, recounted that the security guard was initially bewildered when he discovered him and his nephew trying to fasten the bust to Morrison’s gravestone in the dark. “He just looked dumbfounded … Most people are damaging things in that cemetery,” Mitchell told the Salt Lake Tribune in 1994.
On Monday, as Morrison’s fans rejoiced at what police described on social media as an “unusual discovery,” there was little information on whether the bust would be returned to the singer’s grave. Benoît Gallot, the curator of Père-Lachaise cemetery, stated to Le Figaro: “The police haven’t reached out to us, so I’m uncertain if the bust will be returned.”
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