Philip Kennicott recently wrote in The Washington Post about the destruction of the Askariya shrine in Iraq as an attack on religion, as well as architecture. The building was an example of the “magnificence” of Islamic design reserved for the burial places of Imams.
We noticed a little late, but the same convergence of design and religion is playing a role in Slobodan Milosovic’s trial. Other than genocide, Milosovic is being charged for the “destruction of religious and cultural buildings,” The Times reported. “This is the first time that anyone has been properly charged in a court of law for wartime attacks on architecture as well as civilians, and a direct connection noted between the two.”
– Riva Froymovich
