WAR, ART, & ARCHITECTURE

War hasn't been nice to art, artifacts, and architecture in the past.This should be an obvious thought. War hurts more than the people and governments involved. Some easy examples I can think of

off hand would include(these are just a few):

The French Revolution

Aside from people losing their heads from all sides of the conflict, many people saw it fit to destroy architectural details and sculpture. Here are some examples. I took these photos in Avignon.. From a portal at the Palais

de Papes(Popes Palace) where the papacy was in the fourteenth century. During the time period of the French Revolution around 1792 churches were looted and dest

royed along with royal

buildings of course.

WWII EXAMPLES

There are numerous examples of destruction from the Second World war. Paintings displaced and even lost are countless. As the Nazi's swept Europe they both looted and misplaced famous works. One famous Example is Raphael's self portrait pictured below.

As well the Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt.(one of my all time favorites) And finally Johannes Vermeer's The Astronomer .

In an attempt to "exterminate the Polish people and culture" parts of Warsaw the Polish Capitol was turned to rubble. Pictured in the background is the Catholic church left standing.

The United States is by far no where clean of blame. US bombers are to blame for the bombing of Monte Cassino. Monte Cassino is a notable hilltop monastery from the first century. It is where many believe that the Benedictine order was written, which set the basis for monastic tradition in the western world..(kind of a big deal...lol) The United States ended up bombing it because of a Nazis stronghold on the mountain top there..

Many call this the 'one of the greatest architectural loses of WWII'

The Iraq War

The war in Iraq was another conflict that saw its share of looting and great lose of art, artifacts and antiquities. (TO BE Continued)

As political disputes continue taking place in Egypt. We can only wait and wonder what the outcome will be, but further how it will change the largest collection of antiquities owned by one country.This is a link to Dr. Zahi Hawass's(Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, ) website which has daily updates on what has happened so far http://www.drhawass.com/