Playing tag: two children broke a glass Disney castle worth 50 thousand pounds (3 photos)

Cinderella's castle was created by Spanish glassblower Miguel Arribas. The work weighs 60kg and costs around £50,000, with the spires made from 24-carat gold.





The parents of two children who smashed a £50,000 glass sculpture modelled on the famous Disney castle have apologised and promised to take responsibility for repairs.

Two children were playing tag while visiting the Shanghai Glass Museum in China. They smashed the £50,000 castle to pieces as they chased each other around the exhibition and climbed over a security barrier.

The Fantasia Castle is the world's largest glass castle, created by Spanish glassblower Miguel Arribas and inspired by the iconic Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World. The work weighs 60kg and cost around £50,000, with spires made from 24-carat gold. According to Manuel Arribas, co-founder of Arribas Brothers, a chain of glass and crystal shops at Disney parks around the world, it took the artist 500 hours to create.



The castle was donated to the museum in 2016 to celebrate its fifth anniversary, but in 2020, staff announced that it had been damaged. The report said that two children visiting the museum had stepped over the waist barrier while chasing each other and collided with a display case, causing the display case to fall and the castle to collapse. The main spire was broken and other sections suffered various damages, but the museum did not disclose the exact value of the broken piece.

The museum contacted the artists to try to arrange repairs, but they were unable to travel to China quickly due to travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus crisis. The Shanghai Glass Museum has urged visitors to respect the rules and refrain from running or stepping over safety barriers, and has apologised to visitors who will not be able to see its collection in its entirety.

The publication notes that the company that built the castle, Arribas Brothers, was founded by siblings Tomas and Alfonso, who ran a family glassblowing business in Spain and were invited to represent their country at the 1964 World's Fair, where they met Walt Disney. He was impressed by their work and invited them to open a store at Disneyland in 1967, and they now have stores at Disneyland parks around the world.