Monumental folly

The companies allegedly involved in this cultural destruction are now facing criminal charges; as is the construction firm which, in May, apparently crushed up a 2,300 year-old Mayan temple in Belize (one of the largest in the country) to use as gravel for road-fill. At least here, in the New Europe, our democracies and regulatory systems now have the safeguards in place to prevent the wanton destruction of irreplaceable monuments. The same thing couldn’t possibly happen here! Or could it? I imagine that as you read this piece – expecting me to confound that particular view with some striking counter-examples – you are already at the stage of retorting about how impossible it is to deal with historic building conservators. These guardians of the nation’s heritage have become notorious for tying listed buildings up in red tape when- ever efforts are made to bring them back to life. This may be true of buildings whose cultural value is undoubted, but what of those