Thursday, June 07, 2007
All-inclusive, value-neutral historical preservation
Call me a Philistine, but I laughed out loud at this lede:
America's famed Route 66 and archeological sites of Iraq were among the world's most threatened cultural treasures, according to a list published Wednesday by a US-based heritage group.
Good point. I've long been concerned that the Sears Tower and the Great Pyramids of Egypt won't survive another thousand years. Of course we can't forget the many risks to the University of Michigan's "Big House" and the Coliseum of Rome. And don't get me started about the innumerable perils faced by the Basilica of St. Peter and the Lakewood Church in Houston.
2 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Jun 07, 10:02:00 AM:
at least in AZ and NM, Route 66 is an unending string of tacky motels and trinket shops. It's as much a cultural treasure as the parking lot of any Walmart store you care to visit.
By 
Christopher Chambers, at
Fri Jun 08, 10:57:00 AM:
Am I a Philistine myself for not know for sure, but didn't human civilization as we can quantify and qualify it begin in what's now Iraq? There's proof that the source of many stories and parables in the Bible being fables from kingdoms older than even Babylon.
Route 66--yeah, I yearn for the days when developers and clods who didn't sell-out to China didn't rule this land, but hey...
