A group of Maltese had been aghast at the idea of the Pope seeing the ‘phallic’ statue in the Luqa roundabout some years ago – but it seems that the Russians are just as worried about causing offence.

The Novosibirsk State Academy of Architecture and Fine Arts used sheets and paper clips to cover up the nude statues in its foyer, to ensure that it did not offend senior priests from the Orthodox church who were attending a meeting there.
A spokesman for the university told the Russian media: “Why did we have to cover them? I can't tell you that.”

Archpriest Alexander Matruk was quoted as saying: “Why are these sculptures there? What are they for? Art? So what that this is art? People have different views of art.”