A 3 meter (10 feet) tall statue of Hercules in the French town of Arcachon has been fitted with a detachable penis to thwart vandals been stealing the member of the towering statue. Hercules has been penectomized and/or castrated numerous times since the statue was erected in 1948. His penis will now only be attached on special ceremonial occasions.

A Google search of Hercules and Arcachon turns up hundreds of references. I've posted below one of the snarkier ones and links to a couple of articles that have photographs of Hercules with and without his penis.

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Hercules Statue Gets the Snip

The Connexion: France's English-Language Newspaper

27 April 2016

HERCULES the mighty has had the snip in an Atlantic coast resort – as the mairie has had to fit a detachable penis to his statue after repeated smash and grab raids by vandals.

Despite being the son of Jupiter and able to hold up the heavens the 3.10m statue in Arcachon could not hold on to his hollyhocks and mayor Yves Foulon told Sud Ouest he “would not wish what has happened to this statue to happen to my worst enemies”.

He told the paper that his deputy, Daniel Phelippot, did not want to get involved in the delicate surgery needed to tackle the problem, so assistant mayor Martine Phelippot – a doctor – was brought in.

Ms Phelippot said: “Hercules has a fragile virility so we chose to make a removable version so that it could be attached before each ceremony.”

Now the statue’s penis can be screwed and unscrewed at will and when not in use it is “kept elsewhere, in a desk at the mairie”.

The statue, showing Hercules after slaying the Lion of Nemea, was erected in 1948 and the theme was to show how the Résistance had conquered the Nazis. However, local women were shocked and it was reported that sculptor Claude Bouscau had to trim back the penis size twice.

The paper made a point of reminding upstanding readers that Hercules had ‘honoured’ 50 women the night after slaying the lion...

http://www.connexionfrance.com/Arcachon ... ticle.html

(http://www.connexionfrance.com/Arcachon ... ticle.html)

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With:

http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/ ... enturas_aw

Without:

http://antinousgaygod.blogspot.com/2016 ... s-has.html

This could be like the raising and lowering of a flag.

Rise in the morning, gone for the school bus, and rise a second time for the lunch crowd.

Rush hour would have altogether new meaning.

Different sizes and colors could predict weather, too.

Jesus, when I saw the name of this tread, my first thought was that this is about some kind of prosthesis for some members!

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JesusA (imported) wrote: Sun May 01, 2016 7:50 am . However, local women were shocked and it was reported that sculptor Claude Bouscau had to trim back the penis size twice. ...

It is kind of look too small…

Perhaps when he's in "Stumpy " mode the whole area should be covered with a Fig leaf.

Good idea, but… who knows, these sickos might start stealing fig leafs!

At least that way, they're just stealing sheet metal stampings with a screwdriver, not damaging the statue itself.

Let's hope he doesn't lose it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYwiwbgMusY

GenChick (imported) wrote: Tue May 03, 2016 9:43 am Good idea, but… who knows, these sickos might start stealing fig leafs!

I don't know about France, but one of the statues in Hyde Park (Apollo I think) was originally portrayed naked. This upset the sensibilities of the Victorians so he underwent a penectomy and had a fig leaf attached instead. Apparently this is often removed to the point where the Royal Parks keep a number of replacements on hand for immediate replacement.