What can ruins tell us, and what should we do with them?
videos + essays
![Destruction, Memory, and Monuments: The Many Lives of the Parthenon](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/parthenon-grid-570x350.jpg)
Destruction, Memory, and Monuments: The Many Lives of the Parthenon
The Parthenon has echoed through history, but what part of that history do we prize, and which do we ignore?
![Views of past and present: the Forum Romanum and archaeological context](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Screen-Shot-2015-12-15-at-12.06.44-PM-363x350.png)
Views of past and present: the Forum Romanum and archaeological context
Views of Rome have long fired human imagination, eliciting reactions that lead to contemplation and argue for conservation
![Rome’s layered history — the Castel Sant’Angelo](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/castel-view-570x350.jpg)
Rome’s layered history — the Castel Sant’Angelo
A tomb, a prison, the site of a miracle, papal apartments — this building has as many layers as Rome itself.
![The Roman Forum: Part 3, Ruins in modern imagination](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ruins3GRID-570x350.jpg)
The Roman Forum: Part 3, Ruins in modern imagination
Ruins function as political and private symbols even in the modern era.
![Conservation as memorial — Mantegna’s <em>St. James Led to his Execution</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/OvetariGrid-570x350.jpg)
Conservation as memorial — Mantegna’s St. James Led to his Execution
Conservation as memorial in the aftermath of U.S. bombing.
![The Roman Forum: Part 2, Ruins in modern imagination (The Renaissance and after)](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Forum2Grid-570x350.jpg)
The Roman Forum: Part 2, Ruins in modern imagination (The Renaissance and after)
What did Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Masaccio take from ancient ruins of Rome?
![The Roman Forum: Part 1, Ruins in modern imagination](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ForumPart1Grid-570x350.jpg)
The Roman Forum: Part 1, Ruins in modern imagination
How do we find meaning in amidst the ruins of the Roman Forum?
![Before the fire: Notre Dame, Paris](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/NDCROSSING-sm-570x350.jpg)
Before the fire: Notre Dame, Paris
The total or partial destruction of churches by fire was a fairly common occurrence in medieval Europe.