by Jessica Dawson

It was one of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's greatest embarrassments: On a Sunday evening in 2002, the pedestal housing Adam, a 15th-century marble statue, gave way, sending the 770-pound nude crashing to the ground.

"It's the worst thing that can happen in a museum," said Luke Syson, the Met's head curator of European sculpture and decorative arts. At the time of triage, conservators feared that the figure, made by the Italian sculptor Tullio Lombardo, was shattered beyond restoration.

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Source: http://online.wsj.com/