Two Russian tourists, both aged 23, damaged a wall at the Acropolis while doing acrobatics and other parkour maneuvers. A guard noticed the young men scaling a wall. They were warned to stop but ignored the guards. As a result, several stones fell off the section they were climbing that was a medieval addition to the ancient structure. The two young men were arrested for damaging the archaeological site and will appear before an examining magistrate.

This development comes following last week’s news reports that a section of the Acropolis is crumbling. However, a letter sent by Constantinos Kissas, the deputy director of the First Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities to the Times of London said that the rumors were far from reality. A rock that fell during heavy rain last January has prompted a technical study to further prevent such incidents – a far cry to reports stating that the entire monument would “soon be gone”!

It appears that heavy rainfall isn’t the only threat to the Acropolis, one of Europe’s top cultural monuments that has managed to survive battles, earthquakes, Lord Elgin’s pillaging, natural decay caused by time… but will it survive young tourists freerunning across the ruins?