Jumping from building to building in an ancient city might seem like a dream for those who practice parkour — a sport that involves making it past obstacles — but it can cause damage to historic buildings.
A London-based parkour group, Team Phat, visited the ancient Italian city of Matera, running, climbing and leaping through its streets and over its precious structures.
One of the freerunners caused a segment of a historic building to fall off, sending both himself and the building part crashing to the ground. Matera, a city of stone which dates back to the Paleolithic era, is located in the Basilicata region in Southern Italy.
In 1993, it was granted UNESCO World Heritage status and was the European Capital of Culture in 2019.
A video of parkour stunts in the ancient city was posted by Team Phat on YouTube two months ago, along with a caption explaining that they were “in the beautiful city of Matera” where one of their members, Devon McIntosh, “had a scary fall that could have been really bad.”
The video shows the freerunner jumping off a building and attempting to use a stone ledge to help him get to another building across the street. But the ledge could not withstand his force and dramatically broke off.
An off-camera member of the team suggests that they “hide the evidence” and McIntosh shows his injury to his leg.
The video has attracted many critical comments on social media. “This city is a UNESCO heritage site for a reason,” wrote an Instagram user named Bruno Burke. “We should enjoy our [parkour] discipline as much as possible, but we should also watch where we step, not only for safety but also for respect of culture and history.”