For centuries, images and statues of Apollo have graced theatres and paintings worldwide.

The Bolshoi in Moscow is no exception, although the Greek god’s private parts were discreetly covered up after a long restoration.

Now a Russian MP has complained that the country’s 100-rouble banknote shows the Bolshoi’s pre-restoration Apollo – in the nude.

For Roman Khudyakov, it’s pornography, and against Russia’s law protecting children, and prohibiting homosexual propaganda.

“I saw a boy and a girl in the corridor, they were looking at a 100-rouble banknote,” he said. “I passed by thinking nothing of it. But then the girl screamed at the boy: ‘Do you see that? You can see his willy!’ I was shocked, you know. You can see clearly that Apollo is naked, you can see his genitalia.”

The politician has sent a parliamentary request to the head of Russia’s central bank, asking for the offending Apollo to be removed from the country’s currency.

He wants it replaced with a view of Crimea, recently annexed by Moscow to an international outcry.