This kind of nostalgia bugs me, too, and it happens everywhere. They're tearing out a street here in Galesburg to replace the concrete with cobblestones.

I love Red Square so much exactly because this kind of thing has not happened. There are people who think the mausoleum should be removed, but I think it should stay, along with that little church just inside the walls, St. Basil's Cathedral, and GUM. Of course, I don't think they should tear down the Lenin statues, either--after all, they're now rebuilding all the tsarist monuments that the Communists tore down--but I suppose I'm a minority voice on that one.

It's true that Red Square is much less mucked up than it could have been (the Soviet architect I.I. Leonidov wanted to put "a 50-story monumental building in the form of a huge factory chimney" in it), but it certainly hasn't escaped unscathed. On the south side, the church of St. Nicholas ("Nikola moskvoreckii") was destroyed along with all the adjoining buildings in the late '30s in the course of constructing the new bridge, and on the north the Kazan Cathedral was pulled down in 1936 (and subsequently rebuilt in the '90s; the phenomenon of rebuilding vanished structures is a whole different topic). But the worst vandalism was the destruction of the Iberian Chapel (Iverskaya chasovnya), one of the most beloved bits of prerevolutionary Moscow. If you're interested in city history, I urge you to find a copy of I.K. Kondrat'ev's Sedaya starina Moskvy, originally published in 1893 and reissued in 1997 by Citadel' with extremely thorough end notes detailing the subsequent fate of everything discussed in the text. (Lovely endpapers too.)

Yes, depressing. No wonder the Turks and Greeks are on both sides so hysterical and confused about their respective identities when everyone else had to pitch in....

Oddly enough, the November 11 entry at the always amusing (but not always archived, thus the full quote) Collins Library was:

Dr. Schliemann, the successful discoverer of Troy's remains, has obtained Greek government permission to demolish a great square tower at Acropolis at Athens. It is known as the Ventian tower, and apparently dates from the fourteenth century. It is 80 feet high, and covers 1600 square feet, with walls 5 feet thick. The materials for its construction were drawn from the Acropolis and the theatre of Herodes Atticus.

Dr. Schliemann pays the cost of demolition, which will cost about $2325, and in return he has the exclusive right for three years to publish any inscriptions uncovered. It is thought its removal will bring to light a great number of inscriptions, and other interesting objects. The Athenians manifested great delight when the work of demolition began, which was on the 2nd of June.

- Galaxy, November 1874

Ray: Thanks for the quote (highly apropos), and for introducing me to the Collins Library!

Somebody - possibly Vicki Rosenzweig, who helped put the blogging bee in my bonnet - observed that all those dear old buildings (in England), that now cannot legally be demolished or altered, were put up by people who were free to alter or demolish any buildings on their property (and who I might add never applied for a permit).

Your comments show cultural insensitivity as well as sloppy historical knowledge.

What is a real shame is that so many invadors
did not respect the miracle that was the Parthenon (as well as the rest of the buildings and temple on Acropolis), not that the Acropolis was finally cleansed of stables, shops, mosques, churches, etc.

The Turks used to keep their livestock there,too. Should the archaeologist kept the Turkish barns and hen pens on the Holy Rock (as it is called by the Greeks) What is cute or romantic about that? The Italians would appreciate anything like that in the midst of their Roman ruins, not would the English. So why the Greeks or any educated person appreciative of the Greek culture for that matter.