After being denied a meeting with the Pope, a US tourist destroys two old artworks in the Vatican.

After being told he couldn't see Pope Francis at the Vatican, an American tourist was detained for destroying two ancient Roman sculptures.

On Wednesday, October 5, the man in his 50s lost control when he was inside the Vatican Museums.

The man allegedly threw himself against an ancient sculpture in the Chiaramonti hall of the museums after being told he couldn't meet the pope, knocking the piece off its pedestal, according to the local newspaper Il Messaggero.

He was being pursued by museum security, but as he tried to run away, he destroyed another sculpture.

The man was held back by the staff until Vatican police arrived minutes later to take him into custody.

The busts were nailed to the shelf, but Matteo Alessandrini, a spokesman for the Vatican Museums, told CNN that if you pull them down firmly, they will come off.

Alessandrini remarked that "one lost half of a nose and an ear, the other's head came off the pedestal."

The broken pieces have already been brought to the museums' restoration lab for repair.