7 Historic Sites That Have Been Destroyed in the Last 22 Years

The civil war in Syria has killed half a million and displaced millions of people. It’s been 11 years since the war started and the damage is unfathomable. The worst-hit city was one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited in the world, Aleppo. 

UNESCO estimated that around 60% of the old city in Aleppo—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—has been damaged and 30% completely destroyed. This includes the Great Mosque of Aleppo, built between the 8th and 13th centuries. The minaret of Umayyad Mosque was completely destroyed and the complex was left covered in bullet holes. Another part of the old city, the historic covered souk dating back to the 1300s, was also ruined. 

The restoration work is ongoing and the shops in the souk have started to reopen.

Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Palmyra is home to art and artifacts from the 1st and 2nd centuries. In 2015, ISIS besieged the ancient city and destroyed important cultural sites. Militants detonated explosives in the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel and posted pictures of the damage they did to the Temple of Baalshamin. The group also blew up the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph.

Later in 2017, when they recaptured the city, ISIS also destroyed the tetrapylon (a group of Roman pillars) and the facade of the Roman theatre.

Related: Royalty, Artists, and Intelligentsia Stayed in This Hotel Overlooking Forgotten Roman Ruins. After 150 Years, It’s in Danger of Closing

More than 9,000 people were killed in a devastating earthquake that shook up Nepal in 2015. There was a tremendous loss of medieval buildings and structures in the valley, which encompasses the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Patan. Kathmandu Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has seven groups of monuments, many of which were damaged.

Built in 1832, the 60-meter (196-foot) minaret tower of Dharahara turned to rubble, and the three-story Hindu temple of Kasthamandap was severely impacted. According to UNESCO, “This natural disaster heavily damaged Nepal’s cultural and natural heritage, including 691 historic buildings in 16 districts, of which 131 fully collapsed.”

In 2001, the Taliban ordered two Buddhist statues in the Bamiyan Valley to be destroyed. Standing tall at 55 meters (180 feet) and 38 meters (124 feet), these Buddha statues dated back to the 5th century and had been carved out of sandstone cliffs. Bullets, tanks, and dynamite were used to demolish these idols to erase Afghanistan’s “pre-Islam” history. The Taliban sent a message to the world after ignoring their echoing pleas of safeguarding ancient heritage—there was much outrage and horror when the militants made a spectacle out of this violence. 

The Bamiyan Valley was an important religious, cultural, and trade center on the Silk Route and these statues were once the tallest standing Buddhas in the world. There have been many talks of rebuilding these statues because of their historic significance, but it’s still debated and the niches remain empty. Last year, a 3D projection brought them to life in their place of rest to mark the 20th anniversary of the destruction.

In 2018, flames engulfed the 200-year-old National Museum in Rio—the oldest and most important museum in Brazil. It had a collection of over 20 million items, 92.5% of which were destroyed in the fire. Much of the imperial palace, where the museum is housed, also suffered and its roof collapsed. Rebuilding and restoration is currently underway. 

The prestigious Glasgow School of Art was ravaged by fire not once, but twice. The Mackintosh building was designed in art nouveau style by Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It was completed in 1909 and was considered his finest masterpiece. In 2014, a fire broke out and while much of the building was saved, the library was lost. As restoration work was underway, another blaze consumed the building four years later in 2018—this one was much worse. 

In January 2022, the report to find the cause for the second fire was released: it couldn’t be determined.