An Irish tourist may have to foot a staggering bill of around €17,600 (S$26,000) for breaking a portion of a recently restored statue in Brussels.

The incident occurred on Sunday and was first reported by local newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.

The man, identified as an Irish national, was allegedly intoxicated. He reportedly wanted to have a photo taken while sitting on the back of the statue, which features a lion and a man holding a torch.

In a video circulated online, the tourist is seen trying to get down from the statue.

He balances himself by holding on to the torch, which then breaks off.

He was later arrested at a fast food restaurant, reported Het Nieuwsblad.

The building’s management has reportedly called for the tourist to foot the cost of the repairs.

The damaged statue is one half of a pair of lion statues located outside the stock exchange building, known as The Bourse, in the Belgian capital.

Just a day before the incident, the building had been reopened to the public after a three-year restoration project that cost €90 million (S$131 million). The statues were part of the restoration.

Mr Nel Vandevennet, the project manager for the restoration, said the building and statues were heritage listed.

The repairs will cost a lot of money because “the work will have to be done by real craftsmen”, he told news outlet VRT NWS.

He noted that it would take at least a few weeks or even months to get the work done.

“We thought the sculptures would enjoy greater respect. We just think it’s very sad this happened,” Mr Vandevennet said.

This is not the first time tourists have behaved badly.

In July, a tourist defaced part of Rome’s Colosseum when he used a key to carve out his and his girlfriend’s names on a wall.

Earlier in 2023, Indonesia’s Bali island banned tourists from riding motorcycles after a string of road accidents and even deaths.