The tourist who defaced the nearly 2,000-year-old Colosseum in Rome says he wasn't aware of the monument's age

• A tourist carved "Ivan+Haley 23" into the nearly 2,000-year-old Colosseum in Rome.

• The man was identified as Ivan Dimitrov, and he faces fines of up to $16,000 and five years in jail.

• Dimitrov said in an apology letter that he didn't realize the ancient site's age.

A tourist who sparked outrage for defacing a wall of the Colosseum in Rome said in an apology letter that he wasn't aware of the monument's age.

The tourist — who was identified as Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old fitness instructor living in Bristol, England, according to The Guardian — was seen using a key to carve "Ivan+Haley 23" into the nearly 2,000-year-old Roman structure in a video originally shared to YouTube.

Italy's culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, then shared the footage on Twitter on June 26 and said he hoped the vandal would be "identified and sanctioned according to our laws," according to a translation by CBS News.

The Guardian reported that it took five days for the police to find Dimitrov, who was traced by the Italian police to England.