The Destruction of Memory

Architecture at War

Robert Bevan

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781861896384
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Crumbled shells of mosques in Iraq, the bombing of British cathedrals in World War II, the fall of the World Trade Center towers on September 11: when architectural totems such as these are destroyed by conflicts and the ravages of war, more than mere buildings are at stake. The Destruction of Memory reveals the extent to which a nation weds itself to its landscape; Robert Bevan argues that such destruction not only shatters a nation's culture and morale but is also a deliberate act of eradicating a culture's memory and, ultimately, its existence. Bevan combs through world history to highlight a range of wars and conflicts in which the destruction of architecture was pivotal. From Cortez's razing of Aztec cities to the carpet bombings of Dresden and Tokyo in World War II to the war in the former Yugoslavia, The Destruction of Memory exposes the cultural war that rages behind architectural annihilation, revealing that in this subliminal assault lies the complex aim of exterminating a people. He provocatively argues for "the fatally intertwined experience of genocide and cultural genocide, " ultimately proposing the elevation of cultural genocide to a crime punishable by international law. In an age in which Frank Gehry, I. M. Pei, and Frank Lloyd Wright are revered and yet museums and temples of priceless value are destroyed in wars around the world, Bevan challenges the notion of "collateral damage, " arguing that it is in fact a deliberate act of war.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 - Introduction: The Enemies of Architecture and Memory
• 2 - Cultural Cleansing: Who Remembers the Armenians?
• 3 - Terror: Morale, Messages and Propaganda
• 4 - Conquest and Revolution
• 5 - Fences and Neighbours:: The Destructive Consequences of Partition
• 6 - Remember and Warn I: Rebuilding and Commemoration
• 7 - Remember and Warn II: Protection and Prosecution
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Photographic Acknowledgements
• Index