Performance artist and photographer Deborah de Robertis took part in a risqué stunt last Saturday, stripping naked at a prominent Catholic pilgrimage site in the French city of Lourdes.
According to local media reports, de Robertis posed completely nude at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, with her hands clasped together in prayer, as if mimicking the appearance of the statue behind her.
While one of the shocked onlookers tried to cover the naked woman with a veil, others called the police, and the responding officers quickly detained de Robertis.
"The police were called by people on the spot, they arrested her and placed her in custody for a few hours. The 34-year-old performer was ordered to attend a criminal hearing on 19th May to be tried for sexual exhibition," Tarbes prosecutor Pierre Aurignac said.
A spokesperson for the Sanctuary of Lourdes also commented on the issue, stating that they "deplore such contempt for religious conscience and freedom of worship."
Last year de Robertis performed a similar stunt when she took off her clothes in front of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum.