Intruders at Paris' Orsay damage a Monet (painting)

By CECILE ALMENDROS, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 7, 1:16 PM ET

PARIS - Intruders entered the Orsay Museum early Sunday and punched a hole in a renowned work by Impressionist painter Claude Monet, the French culture minister said. She described the damage as an attack on "our memory, our patrimony."

A surveillance camera caught a group entering the museum, which houses a major collection of Impressionist art on the Left Bank of the French capital along the Seine River.

An alarm sounded and the group left, but not before damaging an invaluable painting, "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," an aide to Culture Minister Christine Albanel said by telephone.

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