When a heritage is destroyed or naturally lost over time, it leaves a regretful disappointment.
On September 2, 2018, about 90% of the collections with about 20 million objects of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro were destroyed by fire. It is the largest museum in Latin America and also a historical construction. For experts, the disaster is a blow to Brazilian culture.
The museum area viewed from above.
Writing on his personal page, anthropologist Mercio Gomes sadly: “Brazil has only 500 years of history. This national museum is 200 years old and there are things that are gone forever.” Museum director Alexander Kellner said: “The museum’s collection is not only the history of Rio de Janeiro or Brazil, but also the foundation for world history.”
The fire destroyed countless valuable Brazilian artifacts such as dinosaur bones, ancient mummies, records in the language of extinct indigenous peoples, many artifacts of the Americas before the arrival. Europeans and frescoes of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. So far, the cause of the fire is believed to have been a small hot air balloon that landed on the roof of this museum, or a short circuit in the audiovisual room.
Sarajevo Library (Bosnia) after being destroyed.
Bosnia’s Sarajevo National Library, built in 1896, is home to about 2 million books and ancient bibliographies, which burned down in a fire at night caused by artillery fire by Serbian gunmen. 25 to 26 August 1992.
Bosnia went through war from 1992 to 1995. Only 10% of the library’s documents, or about 300,000 books out of more than 2 million rare books, were saved. Reconstruction of this ruined building began in 1996 and was partially funded by the European Union. The new library was inaugurated in 2014.
This is 2 of 3 Buddha statues built between the 4th and 8th centuries.
18 years have passed since the two Bamiyan Buddha statues were destroyed, there has been a lot of upheaval in Afghanistan, but for Buddhists, the obsession with that event has not dimmed.
Despite the protests and outrage of the whole world, two Buddha statues 55m and 37m high, carved straight into the sandstone mountain from the 6th century in Bamiyan province, were blown up by the Taliban in 2001. Taliban forces destroyed the statues with tanks and mortars. But unsuccessfully, they placed explosive blocks to destroy it. This is 2 of 3 Buddha statues built between the 4th and 8th centuries, making Bamiyan a holy place of Buddhism. Located on the Silk Road, three monumental statues witness the passage of merchants and pilgrims, the arrival of Islam in the area in the 9th century…
After the fall of the Taliban regime, historians and archaeologists repeatedly debated whether restoration should be and is worth it. According to UNESCO, it is difficult to recover the two Buddha statues because many of the pieces have been completely destroyed. However, the Government of Afghanistan has built a Museum in Bamiyan to display these debris and valuable relics to show everyone the tragic history of the Buddha statues in Bamiyan.
Ancient city of Palmyra.
On January 20, 2017, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) used explosives to completely destroy the main facade of the Ancient Roman Theater built in the 2nd century and the Tetrapylon-shaped architecture. The most famous cube in the ancient city of Palmyra.
In fact, the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria was destroyed many times during each period of IS occupation and then dislodged. During the capture of this city in 2015, IS destroyed key temples and thousands of monuments in Palmyra, including temples, tombs, other non-religious ruins… When government forces lost the city a again in December 2016, jihadists used four-column group explosives, damaging the Roman theatre. On January 22, 2017, Syria’s Culture Minister Muhammad Ahmad condemned the destruction of heritage and culture as a “war crime”.
Built in the 15th century during the Ming Dynasty, the Lullaby Tower is a Buddhist religious site in Nanjing, China. The tower was built by King Minh Thanh To, named Vinh Lac, in 1412 and took 17 years to complete. This tower is located in the Bao An Tu pagoda complex and was once considered one of the “Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages”.
The Tower was restored today.
Luu Ly Tower is not the tallest (the Lieu Dich Tower in Hebei is 84m high), but deserves to be the most beautiful tower. The name lapis lazuli originates from the lapis lazuli (white porcelain tiles) used to erect this tower. During the day, sunlight shines on the bricks, making the whole tower sparkle.
At night, about 140 porcelain lanterns come together to light up the tower. In 1801, the tower was struck by lightning and partially damaged. In 1853, Taiping Thien Quoc, the rebel army at that time, captured Nanjing. By 1856, they had completely destroyed this tower, in order to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the tower for observation, or because of religious conflicts. In 2010, businessman Wang Jianlin donated 1 billion yuan (about 150 million USD) to rebuild the tower.
The city of Alexandria was built by King Alexander the Great in 331 BC after conquering Egypt. After the death of King Alexander the Great, one of his generals, the general Ptolemy, established a new dynasty that lasted for hundreds of years. During the reign of Egyptian King Ptolemy I, the whole area of Alexandria became the center of learning and a huge library was built to hold hundreds of thousands of documents, stored in the form of 700,000 papyri scrolls. and other Sumerian clay tablets.
In 48 BC, the entire library was destroyed and became a tragedy of history.
This is considered a collection as the basis for many scientific and theological works. By the 7th century, many people came here to study and teach. However, by 48 BC, the entire library was destroyed and became a tragedy of history. The burning event of the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt is considered a devastating event for human knowledge.
However, many of the library’s documents still exist after the mysterious destruction. In 604, when Islam developed and the area was conquered by the Arab army of Caliph Omar, he ordered the destruction of all books here. After this destruction, historians agree that all the great knowledge here is gone.
Nalanda (now in Northeastern India) was one of the first universities in the world and the largest Buddhist university in history. This architectural masterpiece was founded in the 5th century and spans over 14 hectares. From the 5th to 12th centuries, Nalanda University was a center of academic excellence and one of the oldest universities in the world.
Ruins of Nalanda University after being destroyed.
At its peak, Nalanda was home to 2,000 teachers and over 10,000 students from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey. Many famous Buddhist scholars have come to study here, including two famous Chinese monks, Mr. Phap Hien and Mr. Huyen Trang. However, Nalanda University was destroyed by Muslim invaders in 1193.
In an effort to restore the prestige and ruins of Nalanda University, in 1951, an outstanding scholar of Buddhism, Monk Jagdish Kashyap, founded the center for the intensive study of Pali language and Buddhism outside. next to the original site. That center, called Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, still exists today. In September 2014, Nalanda University, a model global research and teaching center, was officially opened in the Buddhist pilgrimage town of Rajgir in the Indian state of Bihar.
On January 20, 1258, the army of Hulegu Khan, one of the grandsons of Genghis Khan (Mongolia), arrived at the gates of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. The city is one of the most advanced in the world and one of the most populous.
Old Badhdad city.
The Hulegu Khan army besieged the city and captured it in less than three weeks. Massacres have left at least 200,000 dead, while mosques, palaces and even the Great Library have been razed to the ground.
The Great Library of Baghdad, founded in the 9th century, houses a multitude of scientific, astronomical, medical and philosophical works. It can be said that this is the most important archaeological site in the Middle East.