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  • 2021-05-05 (xsd:date)
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  • This photo shows an Italian artist’s sculpture, not a mythical giant’s skeleton (en)
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  • An image of a huge skeleton has been shared on Facebook with claims that it shows the remains of Bulatha, a mythical giant that is said to have built a reservoir in Sorabora, Sri Lanka - 200 kilometres east of Colombo. This is false; the image shows a sculpture by Italian artist Gino de Dominicis exposed in a square in Milan in 2007. The post , published on Facebook on February 12, 2021, has been shared more than 600 times since. The meme, written in Sinhala, translates in part to English as: Skeletal remains of the giant named Bulatha who lived when Kings reigned (...) the skeleton of the Bulatha giant, held by NASA in Area 51 to conduct secret research, has now been opened for public viewing. Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on May 5, 2021 Area 51 refers to a secretive US military base in the Nevada desert, which has long been the subject of UFO conspiracy theories. According to the Sri Lankan newspaper Sunday Observer , Bulatha was a mythical giant who is said to have built the ancient reservoir of Sorabora Wewa in Mahiyangana, in central Sri Lanka. The legend states that Bulatha constructed the ancient tank during the reign of King Dutugemunu (161-137 BC). However, the photo does not show the giant’s remains. What the image shows Using TinEye , AFP Fact Check ran a reverse image search and found the same image was published on a Flickr account back in 2007. Screenshot of the photo shared on Flickr, taken on May 4, 2021 The caption reads Calamita Cosmica and tags the Wikipedia entry for the Italian artist Gino de Dominicis. A search of the artist’s work reveals that this photo shows his sculpture Calamita Cosmica, known as Cosmic Magnet in English, as displayed in Milan’s Royal Palace during a temporary exhibit in 2007 (see Spanish-language news report from the time here ). Images of Milan’s Royal Palace on Google Maps Street View reveal details that match the photo, including a double-arched doorway and markings on the ground. Image highlighting the matching details in the Google Street View image (top) and the photo used in the false Facebook post De Dominicis’s gigantic sculpture features a bird’s beak instead of a nose as well as a golden rod attached to one of its hands. Screenshot from The Italian Centre for Contemporary Art showing the sculpture’s dimensions, taken on May 4, 2021 The Cosmic Magnet has also been exhibited in Versailles and at the grand opening of Maxxi , Italy's first national museum of contemporary art. Cosmic Magnet installation at the Maxxi museum in Rome on May 27, 2010 (AFP / Alberto Pizzoli) This image has repeatedly been used by conspiracy theorists over the years, including in a post that AFP Fact Check debunked in French claiming it showed the remains of the biblical figure Goliath. Today, the sculpture can be found in the Italian Center of Contemporary Art inside the church of the Holy Trinity in Umbria, Italy. (en)
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