A controversial sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor on display in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles - and informally dubbed the "queen's vagina" - was vandalized again on Sunday, this time by anti-Semitic graffiti, officials said.

The giant sculpture was attacked in June and then cleaned, but Kapoor said that this time the graffiti would remain on the work, to bear witness to hatred.

Officially known as Dirty Corner, the sculpture comprises a huge steel funnel that the 61-year-old British-Indian artist has described as "very sexual."

It and the rocks around it were sprayed in white paint with phrases such as "SS blood sacrifice," "Queen sacrificed, twice insulted," "the second RAPE of the nation by DEVIANT JEWISH activism" and "Christ is king in Versailles," palace management said.

President Francois Hollande condemned the vandalism as "hateful and anti-Semitic" and Prime Minister Manuel Valls took to Twitter to say he felt disgust and warn the perpetrators would be severely punished.

Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said the vandalism was an "attack on freedom of creation" and the phrases were "unacceptable."

"This is no more or less an act which reveals a fascist vision of art," she said in a statement after going to Versailles to inspect the damage.

Shortly after the sculpture was unveiled in June, vandals splattered it with yellow paint.

His work is not the first to spark anger in France. In October 2014, vandals deflated a massive sculpture by American artist Paul McCarthy that was shaped like a sex toy at Paris' Place Vendome.

AFP