The Big Dig: Istanbul’s city planners have a problem: too much history (2015)

Re:The Big Dig: Istanbul’s city planners have a problem: too... by tedmiston on Sunday March 26, 2017 @04:22PM (#13963030)

Greece is such a fascinating country. A few years ago I visited The Acropolis, and relative to the US, it really is mind-blowing to see a structure that's several thousand years old.

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Re:The Big Dig: Istanbul’s city planners have a problem: too... by bpodgursky on Sunday March 26, 2017 @04:48PM (#13963188)

The really remarkable part about the Parthenon is that it likely would have been almost completely intact, if it hadn't been used as a powder magazine and blown up in the 1800s. It wasn't gradually ruined, it just blew up relatively recently (historically speaking).

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Re:The Big Dig: Istanbul’s city planners have a problem: too... by my_first_acct on Sunday March 26, 2017 @05:54PM (#13963522)

All correct, except for the date, which was 1687 [1]. It happened during a war between the Venetians and the Ottoman Turks (the Turks stored gunpowder in the building; the Venetians fired a mortar at it). The Venetians compounded the damage by their incompetent attempt to loot some sculptures from the west pediment; these fell to the ground and smashed to pieces.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon#Destruction

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Re:The Big Dig: Istanbul’s city planners have a problem: too... by agumonkey on Sunday March 26, 2017 @06:05PM (#13963579)

Worth a spielberg movie

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