London, May 5 (IANS): Selfies are becoming a menace so much so that a couple of tourists' obsession with selfies claimed a priceless artefact in Italy.

The tourists climbed onto a priceless marble statue of the mythical Greek hero Hercules at the Loggia dei Militi palace in the city of Cremona, Italy.

The two put too much weight on the statue during their bid to snap a photo of themselves -- shattering the crown of the Statue of the Two Hercules.

Experts will determine if the valuable statue -- considered to be the symbol of Cremona -- can be repaired. Both the tourists, whose identities were not released, may face charges.

The statue, which depicts two figures of Hercules holding the city's emblem, was built in 1700 and was placed in its current spot in 1962, according to local media reports.

This is not the first time when overzealous tourists damaged a priceless work of art. A couple of months back two California women allegedly carved their initials into the Coliseum in Rome and posed for a selfie.

More recently, a Japanese woman scribbled her name and date at the Florence Cathedral using an eyeliner pencil.

In 2013, a man accidentally snapped the finger off an ancient statue of the Virgin Mary at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence, media reports said.