Uploaded May 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
10 Graphic Graffiti Facts
1. Across the United States, cities spend a combined $12 billion annually to clean up graffiti.
2. Graffiti has existed since Neolithic times, when nomads would leave traces of their journeys by scratching signs on rocks and caves.
3. Traditionally, when an aircraft landed on the wrong carrier, it would be covered in graffiti before being sent back to the right one.
4. The earliest known image of Jesus Christ is a piece of Roman graffiti scratched in plaster on a wall near Palatine Hill.
5. Pompeii is famous for its graffitti, which includes gossip, scandalous accusations, profanity, and political slogans.
6. The water-repellent liquid spray called "NeverWet" can be used to create invisible-ink street graffiti that only appears when it rains.
7. Ancient Romans left graffiti on the pyramids that says, "I didn't like anything but the sarcophagus" and "I can't read the hieroglyphs."
8. In 2003, it was discovered that the same company that produced an anti-graffiti chemical also produced the Zyklon B gas used in concentration camp gas chambers during WWII.
9. Graffiti is not all negative. Some can transform a community by keeping urban areas and their residents energized and inspired.
10. For the most part, subway graffiti in the United States died out in the late 1980s due to heightened security.
Photo Credit: Martha Cooper
For more interesting graffiti facts, check out our article here: factretriever.com/graffiti-facts
And don't forget to subscribe to our channel for even more amazing and crazy facts: youtube.com/channel/UCZxmYOAglFN29DPr7mEaDLQ
10 Graphic Graffiti Facts
1. Across the United States, cities spend a combined $12 billion annually to clean up graffiti.
2. Graffiti has existed since Neolithic times, when nomads would leave traces of their journeys by scratching signs on rocks and caves.
3. Traditionally, when an aircraft landed on the wrong carrier, it would be covered in graffiti before being sent back to the right one.
4. The earliest known image of Jesus Christ is a piece of Roman graffiti scratched in plaster on a wall near Palatine Hill.
5. Pompeii is famous for its graffitti, which includes gossip, scandalous accusations, profanity, and political slogans.
6. The water-repellent liquid spray called "NeverWet" can be used to create invisible-ink street graffiti that only appears when it rains.
7. Ancient Romans left graffiti on the pyramids that says, "I didn't like anything but the sarcophagus" and "I can't read the hieroglyphs."
8. In 2003, it was discovered that the same company that produced an anti-graffiti chemical also produced the Zyklon B gas used in concentration camp gas chambers during WWII.
9. Graffiti is not all negative. Some can transform a community by keeping urban areas and their residents energized and inspired.
10. For the most part, subway graffiti in the United States died out in the late 1980s due to heightened security.
Photo Credit: Martha Cooper
For more interesting graffiti facts, check out our article here: factretriever.com/graffiti-facts
And don't forget to subscribe to our channel for even more amazing and crazy facts: youtube.com/channel/UCZxmYOAglFN29DPr7mEaDLQ
