It is feared that Muslim clerics are offended by naked statues and nude paintings.

At the international conference held at the presidential palace in Bogor, near Jakarta to discuss the Sunni vs Shia conflict in Iraq, at which about 15 Muslim clerics from the middle east attended on 3rd and 4th April, a number of decorative interior and garden statues to be found at the palace were hastily covered up with batik cloth so as to avoid causing offence to the visiting Muslim holy men.

A Hercules statue at the palace, possibly one of the Greco-Roman offenders.

Presidential staffer Abdul Rozak said ten statues inside the presidential palace and two more out the front had their modesty covered up. There are said to be 360 statues at the Bogor palace. [1] However one statue of a naked person at the front of the building escaped the attention of staffers and did not have the rude bits concealed. It is not clear what reaction the assembled clerics had to seeing this statue.

Additionally a number of paintings which showed too much female flesh, possibly including belly buttons, were replaced by paintings with more chaste and suitable content. It was no problem replacing the paintings, said Rozak, because the palace has plenty of spare fine art in the storeroom. [2]

1. ↑1 wiki
2. ↑2 mediaindo

Tags: Religion