“A people's relationship to their heritage is the same as the relationship of a child to its mother.”In this present era, in the height of modernity, not many people are interested in the past. But, I agree to the fact that there ARE many people who would go to any lengths to preserve their heritage, although, there are others who wish to make quick money by selling them in the form of antiquities. So, in a way, heritage is priceless to some, either as a form of livelihood or ac a cultural link to their ancestors. Now, you may think, that after all this, WHY I have come up with this question, which some of you may think is stupid. Well, read the following incidents and think again…………“When Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2008, a lot of work needed to be done to prepare the city for the enormous event. That included building new, state-of-the-art stadiums and event centers, and in a city like Beijing, the land for such huge structures is difficult to come by. That’s why the government gave no second thought to demolishing countless pieces of Chinese history, including a 680-year-old Taoist temple that had been named one of the most significant cultural sites in the entire country.Historic homes and statues were bulldozed in order to make way for shopping malls and skyscrapers, with the government winding up spending more than $22 billion — yes, that’s “billion”, with a “b” — to almost completely redo the city for this one event. Despite the fact that the Olympics have the capability to generate an enormous amount of revenue for the host country, that is still an insane amount of money spent to renovate one of the world’s most historic cities, and the real cost, as it turns out, was the loss of a huge part of Chinese culture.”
Trying our best to preserve Heritage!
“In the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan, there once stood 1,700-year-old Buddha statues of tremendous historical and cultural significance. We say “once stood” because back in 2001, the Taliban decided that all non-Islamic statues should be destroyed, including those ancient Bamiyan Buddha statues. The United Nations begged the Taliban to spare these statues, but shockingly found it impossible to reason with a group of extremists.And so the Taliban drilled holes into the Buddha statues, filled them with dynamite, and proceeded to blow them up and reduce them to rubble. The edict issued by the Taliban that all statues be destroyed did not allow for any to be removed and transported to another country, meaning every bit of non-Islam heritage fell as the Taliban attempted to wipe all pieces of evidence of other religions from Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, the wanton destruction of all of these statues, particularly the Bamiyan Buddha statues, did little to endear the taliban to the rest of the world.”“Mecca was the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad, and it is the place where Muhammad said that all Muslims would be equal. And now, today, it is slowly being transformed into the Middle Eastern version of Las Vegas. The holy city has become a victim of swift and progressive urbanization and capitalism, with its culture being paved away in favor of shopping centers, skyscrapers, and luxury hotels. Perhaps the saddest part is that much of the demolition has been ordered by the city’s actual Wahabi clerics.To a degree, the city has begun to look less like the holy land it once was and more like another Dubai. It has been argued that the city was in desperate need of at least some renovation and an improved infrastructure due to the massive number of pilgrims who make their way to Mecca each year, but the extent to which it has been changed and its culture buried has angered many historians and members of Islam, though few have spoken out for fear of losing access to the city and its remaining historical sites. One particularly egregious example is the fact that Muhammad’s first wife’s home has been demolished and turned into a public toilet. The symbolism in that alone speaks volumes about the current views these developers have on the city’s heritage.”Other than these, some dishonourable mentions are
- Conversion of 11 century monument to shopping complex, in our friendliest neighbor china’s territory.
- Demolition of a Mayan pyramid to create gravel for repairing roads in poor Belize.
- Destruction of several Indus Valley monuments to construct railways.
This article has been written by Guest author: Aditya. The editing and Final touches are given by us.
