Overview

• Early on July 14, firefighters doused flames that engulfed “Balena,” a life-size papier-mâché whale by Jacopo Allegrucci installed at the Triennale di Milano.
• Passersby identified a fleeing 33-year-old Egyptian homeless man who was apprehended by Milan police and charged with arson.
• Investigators have seized surveillance recordings and collected testimonies to reconstruct the events leading up to the fire.
• Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli condemned the blaze as a “vile and senseless act” and Triennale president Stefano Boeri decried it as “ottusa violenza umana.”
• Triennale officials said the endangered-species series will continue with the next papier-mâché sculptures replacing the whale as planned.