The Sanctuary of Lourdes is a site of Catholic pilgrimage

Photo: AFP

Luxembourg performance artist Deborah de Robertis was arrested on Saturday for posing naked in the Sanctuary of Lourdes in France.



The provocative 34-year-old artist will appear in criminal court in Tarbes in May on charges of "sexual exhibition", according to the AFP.



"The police were called by people on the spot, they arrested her and placed her in custody for a few hours," Pierre Aurignac, the prosecutor of Tarbes, told the news agency, adding the woman had invoked the artistic nature of her actions.



A photo on De Robertis' Instagram page shows her naked before a statue of the Madonna, posing with a blue veil over her head and hands clasped.

A visitor appears to be intervening to cover her.



The Sanctuary of Lourdes, which is a Catholic pilgrimage destination, said it had lodged a complaint against the woman who "completely stripped naked in the grotto" during a Eucharist procession.



"We deplore such contempt for religious conscience and freedom of worship," the Sanctuary said in a statement, according to the AFP.



It is not the first time De Robertis has run into trouble with the law

Photo: LT Archive

It is not the first time the feminist artist has run into trouble with the law.



A Parisian court dismissed charges of sexual exhibition against her last October after a similar nude performance at the Louvre Museum near the Mona Lisa.



De Robertis said that performance was intended to question the place of women in the history of art.

However, she was given 35 hours of community service for biting a museum guardian.

Other controversial performances include eating a watermelon, placed between her thighs, while wearing a transparent kimono in front of an exhibition at the Guimet Museum in Paris of the works of Japanese photographer Akari, known for his images of bound women.