Editing Monument (section)

== Loss and destruction ==
While many ancient monuments still exist today, there are notable incidents of monuments being intentionally or accidentally destroyed and many monuments are likely to have disappeared through the passage of time and natural forces such as erosion. In 772 during the [[Saxon Wars]], [[Charlemagne]] intentionally destroyed an [[Irminsul]] monument<ref name="FrankishAnals1972">{{cite book|author1=Unknown|last2=Scholz|first2=Bernhard Walter|last3=Rogers|first3=Barbara|title=Carolingian chronicles: Royal Frankish annals and Nithard's Histories. Translated by Bernhard Walter Scholz, with Barbara Rogers., .|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTzl6wFjehMC|accessdate=24 July 2021|year=1972|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor|language=en|isbn=0-472-06186-0|pages=48–49|chapter=Chapter 772}}</ref> in order to desecrate the pagan religion. In 1687 the [[Parthenon]] in [[Athens]] was partially destroyed by a [[Republic of Venice |Venetian]] mortar round, which set off the store of gunpowder kept there by the Turkish defenders.<ref name="Mommsen1941">{{cite journal|last1=Mommsen|first1=Theodor E.|title=The Venetians in Athens and the Destruction of the Parthenon in 1687|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=45|issue=4|year=1941|pages=544–556|issn=0002-9114|doi=10.2307/499533|jstor=499533|s2cid=191393528 }}</ref> 

A recent archeological dig in central France uncovered the remains of a [[Megalith|Megalithic]] monument that had been previously destroyed "Like some monuments, including Belz in [[Morbihan]], the menhirs of [[Veyre-Monton]] were knocked down in order to make them disappear from the landscape. Pushed into large pits, sometimes mutilated or covered with earth, these monoliths have been destroyed. 'object of iconoclastic gestures, a sort of condemnation perhaps linked to some change of community or beliefs "<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/Rare-prehistoric-stones-and-skeleton-discovered-in-Puy-de-Dome-in-central-France|title = Rare prehistoric stones discovered in central France}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/culture/patrimoine/archeologie/decouverte-exceptionnelle-d-une-trentaine-de-monolithes-prehistoriques-en-auvergne_3591521.html|title = Découverte exceptionnelle d'une trentaine de monolithes préhistoriques en Auvergne|date = 26 August 2019}}</ref>