Iconoclasm (from Ancient Greekεἰκών (eikṓn)'figure, icon' and κλάω (kláō)'to break')[i] is the belief in the importance of the destruction oficons and other images or monuments, often for religious or political reasons. Those who engage in or support iconoclasm are callediconoclasts, a term that has come to be applied figuratively and more broadly to anyone who challenges "cherished beliefs orvenerated institutions on the grounds that they are erroneous or pernicious".[1]
Conversely, one who reveres or venerates religious images is called (by iconoclasts) aniconolater; in aByzantine context, such a person is called aniconodule oriconophile.[2] Iconoclasm does not generally encompass the destruction of the images of a specific ruler after their death or overthrow, a practice better known asdamnatio memoriae.
While iconoclasm may be carried out by adherents of a differentreligion, it is more commonly the result ofsectarian disputes between factions of the same religion. The term originates from theByzantine Iconoclasm, the struggles between proponents and opponents of religious icons in theByzantine Empire from 726 to 842 AD. While the enthusiasm for iconoclasm varies among faiths, the practice is more common in religions which opposeidolatry, such as theAbrahamic religions.[3] Outside of the religious context, iconoclasm can refer to movements for widespread destruction in symbols of an ideology or cause, such as the destruction ofmonarchist symbols during theFrench Revolution.
In theBronze Age, the most significant episode of iconoclasm occurred in Egypt during theAmarna Period, whenAkhenaten, based in his new capital ofAkhetaten, instituted a significant shift in Egyptian artistic styles alongside a campaign of intolerance towards the traditional gods and a new emphasis on a statemonolatristic traditionfocused on the godAten, the Sun disk—many temples and monuments were destroyed as a result:[4][5]
In rebellion againstthe old religion andthe powerful priests ofAmun, Akhenaten ordered the eradication of all of Egypt's traditional gods. He sent royal officials to chisel out and destroy every reference to Amun and the names of other deities on tombs, temple walls, and cartouches to instill in the people that theAten was the one true god.
For Egypt, the greatest horror was the destruction or abduction of the cult images. In the eyes of the Israelites, the erection of images meant the destruction ofdivine presence; in the eyes of the Egyptians, this same effect was attained by the destruction of images. In Egypt, iconoclasm was the most terrible religious crime; inIsrael, the most terrible religious crime wasidolatry. In this respectOsarseph alias Akhenaten, the iconoclast, and theGolden Calf, the paragon of idolatry, correspond to each other inversely, and it is strange thatAaron could so easily avoid the role of the religious criminal. It is more than probable that these traditions evolved under mutual influence. In this respect,Moses and Akhenaten became, after all, closely related.
According to theHebrew Bible, God instructed theIsraelites to "destroy all [the] engraved stones, destroy all [the] molded images, and demolish all [the] high places" of theCanaanites as soon as they entered thePromised Land.[7]
Scattered expressions ofopposition to the use of images have been reported: theSynod of Elvira appeared to endorse iconoclasm; Canon 36 states: "Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration."[9][10] A possible translation is also: "There shall be no pictures in the church, lest what is worshipped and adored should be depicted on the walls."[11] The date of this canon is disputed.[12]Proscription ceased after the destruction of pagan temples. However,widespread use of Christian iconography only began as Christianity increasingly spread among Gentiles after thelegalization of Christianity by Roman EmperorConstantine (c. 312 AD). Duringthe process of Christianisation under Constantine, Christian groups destroyed the images and sculptures of theRoman Empire'spolytheist state religion.
The period after the reign ofByzantine EmperorJustinian (527–565) evidently saw a huge increase in the use of images, both in volume and quality, and a gathering aniconic reaction.[citation needed]
One notable change within theByzantine Empire came in 695, whenJustinian II's government added a full-face image of Christ on theobverse of imperial gold coins. The change caused theCaliphAbd al-Malik to stop his earlier adoption of Byzantine coin types. He started a purely Islamic coinage with lettering only.[20] A letter by thePatriarch Germanus, written before 726 to two iconoclast bishops, says that "now whole towns and multitudes of people are in considerable agitation over this matter", but there is little written evidence of the debate.[21]
Government-led iconoclasm began with Byzantine EmperorLeo III, who issued a series ofedicts between 726 and 730 against theveneration of images.[22] The religious conflict created political and economic divisions in Byzantine society; iconoclasm was generally supported by the Eastern, poorer, non-Greek peoples of the Empire who had to frequently deal with raids from the new Muslim Empire.[23] On the other hand, the wealthier Greeks ofConstantinople and the peoples of the Balkan and Italian provinces strongly opposed iconoclasm.[23]
The first iconoclastic wave happened inWittenberg in the early 1520s under reformersThomas Müntzer andAndreas Karlstadt. In 1522 Karlstadt published his tract,"Von abtuhung der Bylder". ("On the removal of images"), which added to the growing unrest in Wittenberg.[27]Martin Luther, then concealed under the pen-name of 'Junker Jörg', intervened to calm things down. Luther argued that the mental picturing of Christ when reading the Scriptures was similar in character to artistic renderings of Christ.[28]
In contrast to theLutherans who favoured certain types of sacred art in their churches and homes,[29][30] theReformed (Calvinist) leaders, in particularAndreas Karlstadt,Huldrych Zwingli andJohn Calvin, encouraged the removal of religious images by invoking theDecalogue's prohibition of idolatry and the manufacture of graven (sculpted) images of God.[30] As a result, individuals attacked statues and images, most famously in thebeeldenstorm across the Low Countries in 1566.
The belief of iconoclasm caused havoc throughoutEurope. In 1523, specifically due to the Swiss reformerHuldrych Zwingli, a vast number of his followers viewed themselves as being involved in a spiritual community that in matters of faith should obey neither the visible Church nor lay authorities. According to Peter George Wallace, "Zwingli's attack on images, at the first debate, triggered iconoclastic incidents in Zürich and the villages under civic jurisdiction that the reformer was unwilling to condone." Due to this action of protest against authority, "Zwingli responded with a carefully reasoned treatise that men could not live in society without laws and constraint".[31]
TheSeventeen Provinces (now the Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of Northern France) were disrupted by widespread Calvinist iconoclasm in the summer of 1566.[35]
Calvinist iconoclasm during the Reformation
Destruction of religious images by the Reformed inZürich, Switzerland, 1524
Remains of Calvinist iconoclasm, Clocher Saint-Barthélémy,La Rochelle, France
16th-century iconoclasm in theProtestant Reformation. Relief statues in St. Stevenskerk inNijmegen, Netherlands, were attacked and defaced by Calvinists in theBeeldenstorm.[36][37]
In thisElizabethan work of propaganda, the top right depicts men pulling down and smashing icons, while power is shifting from the dying KingHenry VIII at left, pointing to his staunchlyProtestant son, the boy-kingEdward VI at centre.[38][39][40]
During theReformation in England, which started during the reign ofHenry VIII, and was urged on by reformers such asHugh Latimer andThomas Cranmer, limited official action was taken against religious images in churches in the late 1530s. Henry's young son,Edward VI, came to the throne in 1547 and, under Cranmer's guidance, issued injunctions for religious reforms in the same year and in 1549 thePutting away of Books and Images Act.[41]
During theEnglish Civil War, theParliamentarians reorganised the administration ofEast Anglia into theEastern Association of counties. This covered some of the wealthiest counties inEngland, which in turn financed a substantial and significant military force. AfterEarl of Manchester was appointed the commanding officer of these forces, in turn he appointedSmasher Dowsing asProvost Marshal, with a warrant to demolish religious images which were considered to be superstitious or linked with popism.[42] BishopJoseph Hall ofNorwich described the events of 1643 when troops and citizens, encouraged by a Parliamentary ordinance against superstition andidolatry, behaved thus:
Lord what work was here! What clattering of glasses! What beating down of walls! What tearing up of monuments! What pulling down of seats! What wresting out of irons and brass from the windows! What defacing of arms! What demolishing of curious stonework! What tooting and piping upon organ pipes! And what a hideous triumph in the market-place before all the country, when all the mangled organ pipes, vestments, both copes and surplices, together with the leaden cross which had newly been sawn down from the Green-yard pulpit and the service-books and singing books that could be carried to the fire in the public market-place were heaped together.
Altarpiece fragments (late 1300 – early 1400) destroyed during the EnglishDissolution of the Monasteries, mid-16th century
Protestant Christianity was not uniformly hostile to the use of religious images. Martin Luther taught the "importance of images as tools for instruction and aids to devotion",[43] stating: "If it is not a sin but good to have the image of Christ in my heart, why should it be a sin to have it in my eyes?"[44] Lutheran churches retained ornate church interiors with a prominentcrucifix, reflecting their high view of the real presence of Christ inEucharist.[45][29] As such, "Lutheran worship became a complex ritual choreography set in a richly furnished church interior."[45] For Lutherans, "the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image".[46]
Zwingli and others for the sake of saving the Word rejected all plastic art; Luther, with an equal concern for the Word, but far more conservative, would have all the arts to be the servants of the Gospel. "I am not of the opinion" said [Luther], "that through the Gospel all the arts should be banished and driven away, as some zealots want to make us believe; but I wish to see them all, especially music, in the service of Him Who gave and created them." Again he says: "I have myself heard those who oppose pictures, read from my German Bible.... But this contains many pictures of God, of the angels, of men, and of animals, especially in the Revelation of St. John, in the books of Moses, and in the book of Joshua. We therefore kindly beg these fanatics to permit us also to paint these pictures on the wall that they may be remembered and better understood, inasmuch as they can harm as little on the walls as in books. Would to God that I could persuade those who can afford it to paint the whole Bible on their houses, inside and outside, so that all might see; this would indeed be a Christian work. For I am convinced that it is God's will that we should hear and learn what He has done, especially what Christ suffered. But when I hear these things and meditate upon them, I find it impossible not to picture them in my heart. Whether I want to or not, when I hear, of Christ, a human form hanging upon a cross rises up in my heart: just as I see my natural face reflected when I look into water. Now if it is not sinful for me to have Christ's picture in my heart, why should it be sinful to have it before my eyes?
The Ottoman SultanSuleiman the Magnificent, who had pragmatic reasons to support theDutch Revolt (the rebels, like himself, were fighting against Spain) also completely approved of their act of "destroying idols", which accorded well with Muslim teachings.[48][49]
16th century Protestant iconoclasm had various effects on visual arts: it encouraged the development of art with violent images such as martyrdoms, of pieces whose subject was the dangers of idolatry, or art stripped of objects with overt Catholic symbolism: thestill life,landscape andgenre paintings.[50]: 44, 25, 40
In Japan during the early modern age, thespread of Catholicism also involved the repulsion of non-Christian religious structures, including Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines and figures. At times of conflict with rivals or some time after the conversion of severaldaimyos, Christian converts would often destroy Buddhist and Shinto religious structures.[51]
Many of themoai ofEaster Island weretoppled during the 18th century in the iconoclasm of civil wars before any European encounter.[52] Other instances of iconoclasm may have occurred throughout Eastern Polynesia during its conversion to Christianity in the 19th century.[53]
After theSecond Vatican Council in the late 20th century, some Roman Catholic parish churchesdiscarded much of their traditional imagery and art which critics call iconoclasm.[54]
Islamic miniature depictingMuhammad andAli (represented by golden flames) leading the Muslims in their destruction of Meccan idols
Islam has a strong tradition of forbidding the depiction of figures, especially religious figures,[3] with someSunnis forbidding it entirely.In thehistory of Islam, the act of removing idols from theKa'ba inMecca has great symbolic and historic importance for all believers.
In general, Muslim societies haveavoided the depiction of living beings (both animals and humans) within such sacred spaces asmosques andmadrasahs. This ban on figural representation is not based on theQur'an, instead, it is based on traditions which are described within theHadith. The prohibition of figuration has not always been extended to the secular sphere, and a robust tradition of figural representation exists withinMuslim art.[55]However, Western authors have tended to perceive "a long, culturally determined, and unchanging tradition of violent iconoclastic acts" withinIslamic society.[55]
The first act of Muslim iconoclasm dates to the beginning of Islam, in 630, when the various statues ofArabian deities housed in theKaaba inMecca were destroyed. There is a tradition thatMuhammad spared a fresco ofMary andJesus.[56] This act was intended to bring an end to theidolatry which, in the Muslim view, characterizedJahiliyyah.
The destruction of the idols of Mecca did not, however, determine the treatment of other religious communities living under Muslim rule after the expansion of thecaliphate. Most Christians under Muslim rule, for example, continued to produce icons and to decorate their churches as they wished. A major exception to this pattern of tolerance in early Islamic history was the "Edict of Yazīd", issued by theUmayyad caliphYazīd II in 722–723.[57] This edict ordered the destruction of crosses and Christian images within the territory of the caliphate. Researchers have discovered evidence that the order was followed, particularly in present-dayJordan, wherearchaeological evidence shows the removal of images from the mosaic floors of some, although not all, of the churches that stood at this time. But Yazīd's iconoclastic policies were not continued by his successors, and Christian communities of theLevant continued to make icons without significant interruption from the sixth century to the ninth.[58]
Al-Maqrīzī, writing in the 15th century, attributes the missing nose on theGreat Sphinx of Giza to iconoclasm byMuhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, aSufi Muslim in the mid-1300s. He was reportedly outraged by local Muslims making offerings to the Great Sphinx in the hope of controlling the flood cycle, and he was later executed for vandalism. However, whether this was actually the cause of the missing nose has been debated by historians.[59]Mark Lehner, having performed an archaeological study, concluded that it was broken with instruments at an earlier unknown time between the 3rd and 10th centuries.[60]
Certain conquering Muslim armies have used local temples or houses of worship as mosques. An example isHagia Sophia inIstanbul (formerlyConstantinople), which was converted into a mosque in 1453. Most icons were desecrated and the rest were covered with plaster. In 1934 the government of Turkey decided to convert the Hagia Sophia into a museum and the restoration of the mosaics was undertaken by theAmerican Byzantine Institute beginning in 1932.
A recent act of iconoclasm was the 2001 destruction of the giantBuddhas of Bamyan by the then-Taliban government ofAfghanistan.[63] The act generated worldwide protests and was not supported by other Muslim governments and organizations. It was widely perceived in the Western media as a result of the Muslim prohibition against figural decoration. Such an account overlooks "the coexistence between the Buddhas and the Muslim population that marveled at them for over a millennium" before their destruction.[55] According to art historian F. B. Flood, analysis of the Taliban's statements regarding the Buddhas suggest that their destruction was motivated more by political than by theological concerns.[55] Taliban spokesmen have given many differentexplanations of the motives for the destruction.
During theTuareg rebellion of 2012, the radical Islamist militiaAnsar Dine destroyed variousSufi shrines from the 15th and 16th centuries in the city ofTimbuktu,Mali.[64] In 2016, theInternational Criminal Court (ICC) sentencedAhmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, a former member of Ansar Dine, to nine years in prison for this destruction of cultural world heritage. This was the first time that the ICC convicted a person for such a crime.[65]
TheIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant carried out iconoclastic attacks such as the destruction of Shia mosques and shrines. Notable incidents include blowing up the Mosque of the Prophet Yunus (Jonah)[66] and destroying the Shrine toSeth inMosul.[67]
In earlyMedieval India, there were numerous recorded instances of temple desecration by Indian kings against rival Indian kingdoms, which involved conflicts between devotees of differentHindu deities, as well as conflicts between Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains.[68][69][page needed][70]
Historian Upendra Thakur records the persecution ofHindus andBuddhists:
Muhammad triumphantly marched into the country, conqueringDebal,Sehwan,Nerun, Brahmanadabad,Alor andMultan one after the other in quick succession, and in less than a year and a half, the far-flung Hindu kingdom was crushed ... There was a fearful outbreak of religious bigotry in several places and temples were wantonly desecrated. At Debal, the Nairun and Aror temples were demolished and converted into mosques.[72]
TheSomnath Temple in Gujarat was repeatedly destroyed by Islamic armies and rebuilt by Hindus. It was destroyed by Delhi Sultanate's army in 1299 AD.[73] The present temple was reconstructed inChalukyan style of Hindu temple architecture and completed in May 1951.[74][75]
Ruins of theMartand Sun Temple. The temple was destroyed on the orders of Muslim SultanSikandar Butshikan in the early 15th century, with demolition lasting a year.
The armies of Delhi Sultanate led by Muslim CommanderMalik Kafur plundered theMeenakshi Temple and looted it of its valuables.
Perhaps the most notorious episode of iconoclasm in India wasMahmud of Ghazni's attack on theSomnath Temple from across theThar Desert.[77][78][79] In 1026 during the reign ofBhima I, the prominent Turkic-Muslim ruler Mahmud of Ghazni raided Gujarat, plundering theSomnath Temple and breaking itsjyotirlinga despite pleas by Brahmins not to break it. He took away a booty of 20 milliondinars.[80][79]: 39 The attack may have been inspired by the belief that an idol of the goddessManat had been secretly transferred to the temple.[81] According to the Ghaznavidcourt-poetFarrukhi Sistani, who claimed to have accompanied Mahmud on his raid,Somnat (as rendered inPersian) was a garbled version ofsu-manat referring to the goddess Manat. According to him, as well as a later Ghaznavid historianAbu Sa'id Gardezi, the images of the other goddesses were destroyed in Arabia but the one of Manat was secretly sent away toKathiawar (in modern Gujarat) for safekeeping. Since the idol of Manat was ananiconic image of black stone, it could have been easily confused with alingam at Somnath. Mahmud is said to have broken the idol and taken away parts of it as loot and placed so that people would walk on it. In his letters to theCaliphate, Mahmud exaggerated the size, wealth and religious significance of the Somnath temple, receiving grandiose titles from the Caliph in return.[80]: 45–51
The wooden structure was replaced byKumarapala (r. 1143–72), who rebuilt the temple out of stone.[82]
Historical records which were compiled by the Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai attest to the religious violence which occurred during theMamluk dynasty underQutb-ud-din Aybak. The first mosque built in Delhi, the "Quwwat al-Islam" was built with demolished parts of 20 Hindu and Jain temples.[83][84] This pattern of iconoclasm was common during his reign.[85]
During theDelhi Sultanate, a Muslim army led byMalik Kafur, a general ofAlauddin Khalji, pursued four violent campaigns into south India, between 1309 and 1311, against the Hindu kingdoms of Devgiri (Maharashtra), Warangal (Telangana), Dwarasamudra (Karnataka) and Madurai (Tamil Nadu). Many Temples were plundered;Hoysaleswara Temple and others were ruthlessly destroyed.[86][87]
In Kashmir,Sikandar Shah Miri (1389–1413) began expanding, and unleashed religious violence that earned him the namebut-shikan, or 'idol-breaker'.[88] He earned thissobriquet because of the sheer scale of desecration and destruction of Hindu and Buddhist temples, shrines, ashrams, hermitages, and other holy places in what is now known as Kashmir and its neighboring territories.Firishta states: "After the emigration of theBrahmins, Sikundur ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down."[89] He destroyed vast majority of Hindu and Buddhist temples in his reach in Kashmir region (north and northwest India).[90]
Some of the most dramatic cases of iconoclasm by Muslims are found in parts of India where Hindu and Buddhist temples were razed and mosques erected in their place.Aurangzeb, the 6thMughal Emperor, destroyed the famous Hindu temples atVaranasi andMathura, turning back on his ancestor Akbar's policy of religious freedom and establishingSharia across his empire.[93]
Exact data on the nature and number of Hindu temples destroyed by the Christian missionaries and Portuguese government are unavailable. Some 160 temples were allegedly razed to the ground inTiswadi (Ilhas de Goa) by 1566. Between 1566 and 1567, a campaign by Franciscan missionaries destroyed another 300Hindu temples inBardez (North Goa). InSalcete (South Goa), approximately another 300 Hindu temples were destroyed by the Christian officials of the Inquisition. Numerous Hindu temples were destroyed elsewhere atAssolna andCuncolim by Portuguese authorities.[94] A 1569 royal letter in Portuguese archives records that all Hindu temples in its colonies in India had been burnt and razed to the ground.[95] The English travellerSir Thomas Herbert, 1st Baronet who visited Goa in the 1600s writes:
... as also the ruins of 200 Idol Temples which the Vice-Roy Antonio Norogna totally demolisht, that no memory might remain, or monuments continue, of such gross Idolatry. For not only there, but at Salsette also were two Temples or places of prophane Worship; one of them (by incredible toil cut out of the hard Rock) was divided into three Iles or Galleries, in which were figured many of their deformed Pagotha's, and of which an Indian (if to be credited) reports that there were in that Temple 300 of those narrow Galleries, and the Idols so exceeding ugly as would affright an European Spectator; nevertheless this was a celebrated place, and so abundantly frequented by Idolaters, as induced the Portuguise in zeal with a considerable force to master the Town and to demolish the Temples, breaking in pieces all that monstrous brood of mishapen Pagods. In Goa nothing is more observable now than the fortifications, the Vice-Roy and Arch-bishops Palaces, and the Churches. ...[96]
B. R. Ambedkar and his supporters on 25 December 1927 in theMahad Satyagraha strongly criticised, condemned and then burned copies ofManusmriti on a pyre in a specially dug pit.Manusmriti, one of the sacredHindu texts, is the religious basis ofcasteist laws and values ofHinduism and hence was/is the reason of social and economic plight of millions ofuntouchables and lower caste Hindus.Ambedkarites continue to observe 25 December as "Manusmriti Dahan Divas" (Manusmriti Burning Day) and burn copies ofManusmriti on this day.[citation needed]
The most high-profile case of iconoclasm in independent India was in 1992. A Hindu mob, led by theVishva Hindu Parishad andBajrang Dal, destroyed the 430-year-old IslamicBabri Masjid inAyodhya which is claimed to have been built upon a previous Hindu temple.[97][98]
During and after the 1911Xinhai Revolution, there was widespread destruction of religious and secular images inChina.
During theNorthern Expedition inGuangxi in 1926,Kuomintang GeneralBai Chongxi led his troops in destroying Buddhist temples and smashing Buddhist images, turning the temples into schools and Kuomintang party headquarters.[99] It was reported that almost all of theviharas in Guangxi were destroyed and themonks were removed.[100] Bai also led a wave of anti-foreignism in Guangxi, attacking Americans, Europeans, and other foreigners, and generally making the province unsafe for foreigners andmissionaries. Westerners fled from the province and someChinese Christians were also attacked as imperialist agents.[101] The three goals of the movement were anti-foreignism,anti-imperialism andanti-religion. Bai led the anti-religious movement againstsuperstition.Huang Shaohong, also a Kuomintang member of theNew Guangxi clique, supported Bai's campaign. The anti-religious campaign was agreed upon by all Guangxi Kuomintang members.[101]
There was extensive destruction of religious and secular imagery inTibet after it wasinvaded andoccupied by China.[102]
Many religious and secular images were destroyed during theCultural Revolution of 1966–1976, ostensibly because they were a holdover from China's traditional past (which the Communist regime led byMao Zedong reviled). The Cultural Revolution included widespread destruction of historic artworks in public places and private collections, whether religious or secular. Objects in state museums were mostly left intact.
Over the course of the last decade [1990s] a fairly large number ofBuddhist temples in South Korea have been destroyed or damaged by fire byChristian fundamentalists. More recently, Buddhist statues have been identified as idols, and attacked and decapitated in the name of Jesus. Arrests are hard to effect, as the arsonists and vandals work by stealth of night.
Beginningc. 1243 AD with the death ofIndravarman II, theKhmer Empire went through a period of iconoclasm. At the beginning of the reign of the next king,Jayavarman VIII, the kingdom went back toHinduism and the worship ofShiva. Many of the Buddhist images were destroyed by Jayavarman VIII, who reestablished previously Hindu shrines that had been converted to Buddhism by his predecessor. Carvings of the Buddha at temples such asPreah Khan were destroyed, and during this period theBayon Temple was made a temple to Shiva, with the central 3.6-meter-tall (12 ft) statue of the Buddha cast to the bottom of a nearby well.[104]
Revolutions and changes of regime, whether through uprising of the local population, foreign invasion, or a combination of both, are often accompanied by the public destruction of statues and monuments identified with the previous regime. This may also be known asdamnatio memoriae, the ancient Roman practice of official obliteration of the memory of a specific individual. Stricter definitions of "iconoclasm" exclude both types of action, reserving the term for religious or more widely cultural destruction.[citation needed] In many cases, such asRevolutionary Russia orAncient Egypt, this distinction can be hard to make.
Among Roman emperors and other political figures subject to decrees ofdamnatio memoriae wereSejanus,Publius Septimius Geta, andDomitian. Several Emperors, such asDomitian andCommodus had during their reigns erected numerous statues of themselves, which were pulled down and destroyed when they were overthrown.
The perception ofdamnatio memoriae in the Classical world as an act of erasing memory has been challenged by scholars who have argued that it "did not negate historical traces, but created gestures which served todishonor the record of the person and so, in an oblique way, to confirm memory",[105] and was in effect a spectacular display of "pantomime forgetfulness".[106] Examining cases of political monument destruction in modern Irish history,Guy Beiner has demonstrated that iconoclastic vandalism often entails subtle expressions of ambiguous remembrance and that, rather than effacing memory, such acts of de-commemorating effectively preserve memory in obscure forms.[107][108][109]
Throughout the radical phase of theFrench Revolution, iconoclasm was supported by members of the government as well as the citizenry. Numerous monuments, religious works, and other historically significant pieces were destroyed in an attempt to eradicate any memory of theOld Regime. A statue ofKing Louis XV in the Paris square which until then bore his name, was pulled down and destroyed. This was a prelude to theguillotining of his successorLouis XVI in the same site, renamed "Place de la Révolution" (at presentPlace de la Concorde).[110] Later that year, the bodies of many French kings were exhumed from theBasilica of Saint-Denis and dumped in a mass grave.[111]
Some episodes of iconoclasm were carried out spontaneously by crowds of citizens, including the destruction of statues of kings during theinsurrection of 10 August 1792 in Paris.[112] Some were directly sanctioned by the Republican government, including the Saint-Denis exhumations.[111] Nonetheless, the Republican government also took steps to preserve historic artworks,[113] notably by founding theLouvre museum to house and display the former royal art collection. This allowed the physical objects and national heritage to be preserved while stripping them of their association with the monarchy.[114][115][116]Alexandre Lenoir saved many royal monuments by diverting them to preservation in a museum.[117]
AfterNapoleon conquered the Italian city ofPavia, local Pavia Jacobins destroyed theRegisole, a bronze classical equestrian monument dating back to Classical times. The Jacobins considered it a symbol of Royal authority, but it had been a prominent Pavia landmark for nearly a thousand years and its destruction aroused much indignation and precipitated a revolt by inhabitants of Pavia against the French, which was quelled by Napoleon after a furious urban fight.
Other examples of political destruction of images include:
There have been several cases of removing symbols of past rulers inMalta's history. ManyHospitaller coats of arms on buildings were defaced during theFrench occupation of Malta in 1798–1800; a few of these were subsequently replaced by British coats of arms in the early 19th century.[118] Some British symbols were also removed by the government after Malta became a republic in 1974. These includeroyal cyphers being ground off from post boxes,[119] and British coats of arms such as that on theMain Guard building being temporarily obscured (but not destroyed).[120]
In the late 18th century,French revolutionaries known as thesans-culottes sackedBrussels'Grand-Place, destroying statues of nobility and symbols of Christianity.[121][122] In the 19th century, the place was renovated and many new statues added. In 1911, a marble commemoration for the Spanish freethinker and educatorFrancisco Ferrer, executed two years earlier and widely considered a martyr, was erected in the Grand-Place. The statue depicted a nude man holding the Torch of Enlightenment. TheImperial German military, whichoccupied Belgium during the First World War, disliked the monument and destroyed it in 1915. It was restored in 1926 by the International Free Thought Movement.[123]
In 1942, thecollaborationistVichy Government of France took down and melted Clothilde Roch's statue of the 16th-century dissident intellectualMichael Servetus, who had been burned at the stake inGeneva at the instigation ofCalvin. The Vichy authorities disliked the statue, as it was a celebration of freedom of conscience. In 1960, having found the original molds, the municipality ofAnnemasse had it recast and returned the statue to its previous place.[124]
A sculpture of the head of Spanish intellectualMiguel de Unamuno byVictorio Macho was installed in the City Hall ofBilbao, Spain. It was withdrawn in 1936 when Unamuno showed temporary support for theNationalist side. During the Spanish Civil War, it was thrown intothe estuary. It was later recovered. In 1984 the head was installed in Plaza Unamuno. In 1999, it was again thrown into the estuary after a political meeting ofEuskal Herritarrok. It was substituted by a copy in 2000 after the original was located in the water.[125][126][127]
TheBattle of Baghdad and the regime ofSaddam Hussein symbolically ended with theFirdos Square statue destruction, a U.S. military-staged event on 9 April 2003 where a prominent statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down. Subsequently, statues and murals of Saddam Hussein all over Iraq were destroyed by US occupation forces as well as Iraqi citizens.[128]
In November 2019, astatue of Swedish footballerZlatan Ibrahimović inMalmö, Sweden, was vandalized byMalmö FF supporters after he announced he had become part-owner of Swedish rivalsHammarby. White paint was sprayed on it; threats and hateful messages towards Zlatan were written on the statue, and it was burned.[130][131] In a second attack the nose was sawed off and the statue was sprinkled with chrome paint.[132] On 5 January 2020 it was finally toppled.[133]
During and after theOctober Revolution, widespread destruction of religious and secular imagery in Russia took place, as well as the destruction of imagery related tothe Imperial family. The Revolution was accompanied by destruction of monuments oftsars, as well as the destruction ofimperial eagles at various locations throughoutRussia. According toChristopher Wharton:[139]
In front of a Moscow Cathedral, crowds cheered as the enormous statue of TsarAlexander III was bound with ropes and gradually beaten to the ground. After a considerable amount of time, the statue was decapitated and its remaining parts were broken into rubble.
TheSoviet Union actively destroyed religious sites, includingRussian Orthodox churches andJewish cemeteries, in order to discourage religious practice and curb the activities of religious groups.
The fall of Communism in 1989–1991 was also followed by the destruction or removal of statues ofVladimir Lenin and other Communist leaders in theformer Soviet Union and in otherEastern Bloc countries. Particularly well-known was the destruction of "Iron Felix", the statue ofFelix Dzerzhinsky outside theKGB's headquarters. Another statue of Dzerzhinsky was destroyed in aWarsaw square that was named after him duringcommunist rule, but which is now calledBank Square.
^FromAncient Greek:εἰκών +κλάω,romanized: eikṓn + kláō,lit. 'image-breaking'.Iconoclasm may also be considered as aback-formation fromiconoclast (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία (eikonoklasia).
^Elvira canons, Cua, archived fromthe original on 2012-07-16,Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colitur et adoratur in parietibus depingatur.
^The Catholic Encyclopedia,This canon has often been urged against the veneration of images as practised in the Catholic Church.Binterim, De Rossi, andHefele interpret this prohibition as directed against the use of images in overground churches only, lest the pagans should caricature sacred scenes and ideas;Von Funk, Termel, andHenri Leclercq opine that the council did not pronounce as to the liceity or non-liceity of the use of images, but as an administrative measure simply forbade them, lest new and weak converts from paganism should incur thereby any danger of relapse into idolatry, or be scandalized by certain superstitious excesses in no way approved by the ecclesiastical authority.
^Lindberg, Carter (2021).The European reformations (3rd ed.). Chichester, United Kingdom Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 84–91.ISBN978-1-119-64081-3.
^abLamport, Mark A. (2017).Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 138.ISBN978-1442271593.Lutherans continued to worship in pre-Reformation churches, generally with few alterations to the interior. It has even been suggested that in Germany to this day one finds more ancient Marian altarpieces in Lutheran than in Catholic churches. Thus in Germany and in Scandinavia many pieces of medieval art and architecture survived.Joseph Koerner has noted that Lutherans, seeing themselves in the tradition of the ancient, apostolic church, sought to defend as well as reform the use of images. "An empty, white-washed church proclaimed a wholly spiritualized cult, at odds with Luther's doctrine of Christ's real presence in the sacraments" (Koerner 2004, 58). In fact, in the 16th century some of the strongest opposition to destruction of images came not from Catholics but from Lutherans against Calvinists: "You black Calvinist, you give permission to smash our pictures and hack our crosses; we are going to smash you and your Calvinist priests in return" (Koerner 2004, 58). Works of art continued to be displayed in Lutheran churches, often including an imposing large crucifix in the sanctuary, a clear reference to Luther'stheologia crucis. ... In contrast, Reformed (Calvinist) churches are strikingly different. Usually unadorned and somewhat lacking in aesthetic appeal, pictures, sculptures, and ornate altar-pieces are largely absent; there are few or no candles; and crucifixes or crosses are also mostly absent.
^abFélix, Steven (2015).Pentecostal Aesthetics: Theological Reflections in a Pentecostal Philosophy of Art and Esthetics.Brill Academic Publishers. p. 22.ISBN978-9004291621.Luther's view was that biblical images could be used as teaching aids, and thus had didactic value. Hence Luther stood against the destruction of images whereas several other reformers (Karlstadt, Zwingli, Calvin) promoted these actions. In the following passage, Luther harshly rebukes Karlstadt on his stance on iconoclasm and his disorderly conduct in reform.
^Wallace, Peter George. 2004.The Long European Reformation: Religion, Political Conflict, and the Search for Conformity, 1350–1750. Basingstoke, UK:Palgrave Macmillan. p. 95.
^Marshall, Peter (22 October 2009).The Reformation.Oxford University Press. p. 114.ISBN978-0191578885.Iconoclastic incidents during the Calvinist 'Second Reformation' in Germany provoked reactive riots by Lutheran mobs, while Protestant image-breaking in the Baltic region deeply antagonized the neighbouring Eastern Orthodox, a group with whom reformers might have hoped to make common cause.
^Kleiner, Fred S. (2010).Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Concise History of Western Art. Cengage Learning. p. 254.ISBN978-1424069224.In an episode known as the Great Iconoclasm, bands of Calvinists visited Catholic churches in the Netherlands in 1566, shattering stained-glass windows, smashing statues, and destroying paintings and other artworks they perceived as idolatrous.
^Stark, Rodney (2007).The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success. Random House Publishing Group. p. 176.ISBN978-1588365002.The Beeldenstorm, or Iconoclastic Fury, involved roving bands of radical Calvinists who were utterly opposed to all religious images and decorations in churches and who acted on their beliefs by storming into Catholic churches and destroying all artwork and finery.
^Byfield, Ted (2002).A Century of Giants, A.D. 1500 to 1600: In an Age of Spiritual Genius, Western Christendom Shatters. Christian History Project. p. 297.ISBN978-0968987391.Devoutly Catholic but opposed to Inquisition tactics, they backed William of Orange in subduing the Calvinist uprising of the Dutch beeldenstorm on behalf of regent Margaret of Parma, and had come willingly to the council at her invitation.
^Aston, Margaret (1993),The King's Bedpost: Reformation and Iconography in a Tudor Group Portrait, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-48457-2.
^Loach, Jennifer (1999), Bernard, George; Williams, Penry (eds.),Edward VI, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, p. 187,ISBN978-0-300-07992-0
^Naaeke, Anthony Y. (2006).Kaleidoscope Catechesis: Missionary Catechesis in Africa, Particularly in the Diocese of Wa in Ghana. Peter Lang. p. 114.ISBN978-0820486857.Although some reformers, such as John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli, rejected all images, Martin Luther defended the importance of images as tools for instruction and aids to devotion.
^abSpicer, Andrew (2016).Lutheran Churches in Early Modern Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 237.ISBN978-1351921169.As it developed in north-eastern Germany, Lutheran worship became a complex ritual choreography set in a richly furnished church interior. This much is evident from the background of an epitaph pained in 1615 by Martin Schulz, destined for the Nikolaikirche in Berlin (see Figure 5.5.).
^Dixon, C. Scott (2012).Contesting the Reformation. John Wiley & Sons. p. 146.ISBN978-1118272305.According to Koerner, who dwells on Lutheran art, the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image.
^Fischer, Steven Roger (2006).Island at the end of the world: The turbulent history of Easter Island. London: Reaktion. p. 64.ISBN1-86189-282-9.OCLC646808462.
^abcdFlood, Finbarr Barry (2002). "Between cult and culture: Bamiyan, Islamic iconoclasm, and the museum".The Art Bulletin.84 (4):641–659.doi:10.2307/3177288.JSTOR3177288.
^King, G. R. D. (1985). "Islam, iconoclasm, and the declaration of doctrine".Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.48 (2):276–277.doi:10.1017/s0041977x00033346.S2CID162882785.
^Eaton, Richard M. (2004).Temple desecration and Muslim states in medieval India. Gurgaon: Hope India Publications. pp. 31–49.ISBN978-8178710273.For, while it is true that contemporary Persian sources routinely condemned idolatry (but-parasti) on religious grounds, it is also true that attacks on images patronized by enemy kings had been, from about the sixth century AD on, thoroughly integrated into Indian political behavior.
^Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg: The Chachnamah, An Ancient History of Sind, Giving the Hindu period down to the Arab Conquest.[1]Archived 2017-10-19 at theWayback Machine
^Sindhi Culture by U. T. Thakkur, Univ. of Bombay Publications, 1959.[ISBN missing][page needed]
^Welch, Anthony, and Howard Crane. 1983. "The Tughluqs: Master Builders of the Delhi Sultanate".Muqarnas 1:123–166.JSTOR1523075:TheQuwwatu'l-Islam was built with the remains of demolished Hindu and Jain temples.
^Firishta, Muhammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh (1981) [1829].Tārīkh-i-Firishta [History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India]. Translated by John Briggs. New Delhi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Elliot and Dowson. "The Muhammadan Period". pp. 457–459 inThe History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, Vol. 6. London:Trubner & Co. p. 457.
^Behera, Mahendra Narayan (2003).Brownstudy on heathenland: A book on Indology. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. pp. 146–147.ISBN978-0-7618-2652-1.OCLC53385077.
^Hedrick, Charles W. (2000).History and Silence: Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity. University of Texas Press. pp. 88–130.
^Stewart, Peter (2003).Statues in Roman Society: Representation and Response. Oxford University Press. pp. 279–283.
^Beiner, Guy (2007).Remembering the Year of the French: Irish Folk History and Social Memory. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 305.
^Beiner, Guy (2018).Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster. Oxford University Press. pp. 369–384.
^Stanley J. Idzerda, "Iconoclasm during the French Revolution". In The American Historical Review, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Oct., 1954), p. 25.
^Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1987): 212–213.
^Greene, Christopher M., "Alexandre Lenoir and the Musée des monuments français during the French Revolution", French Historical Studies 12, no. 2 (1981): pp. 200–222.
^Avrich, Paul (1980). "The Martyrdom of Ferrer". The Modern School Movement: Anarchism and Education in the United States. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 3–33.ISBN978-0-691-04669-3.OCLC489692159, p. 33.
^Goldstone, Nancy Bazelon; Goldstone, Lawrence (2003).Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World. New York: Broadway. pp. 313–316.ISBN978-0-7679-0837-5.
Alloa, Emmanuel (2013). "Visual Studies in Byzantium: A Pictorial Turnavant la lettre".Journal of Visual Culture.12 (1). Sage:3–29.doi:10.1177/1470412912468704.ISSN1470-4129.S2CID191395643. (On the conceptual background of Byzantine iconoclasm)
Boldrick, Stacy,Leslie Brubaker, and Richard Clay, eds. 2014.Striking Images, Iconoclasms Past and Present. Ashgate. (Scholarly studies of the destruction of images from prehistory to the Taliban.)
Calisi, Antonio. 2017.I Difensori Dell'icona: La Partecipazione Dei Vescovi Dell'Italia Meridionale Al Concilio Di Nicea II 787.CreateSpace.ISBN978-1978401099.
Hennaut, Eric (2000).La Grand-Place de Bruxelles. Bruxelles, ville d'Art et d'Histoire (in French). Vol. 3. Brussels: Éditions de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale.
Ivanovic, Filip (2010).Symbol and Icon: Dionysius the Areopagite and the Iconoclastic Crisis. Pickwick.ISBN978-1-60899-335-2.
Karahan, Anne (2014). "Byzantine Iconoclasm: Ideology and Quest for Power". In Kolrud, Kristine; Prusac, M. (eds.).Iconoclasm from antiquity to modernity. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. pp. 75–94.ISBN978-1-4094-7033-5.OCLC841051222.
Velikov, Yuliyan (2011).Obrazŭt na Nevidimii︠a︡ : ikonopochitanieto i ikonootrit︠s︡anieto prez osmi vek [Image of the Invisible. Image Veneration and Iconoclasm in the Eighth Century] (in Bulgarian). Veliko Tarnovo: Veliko Tarnovo University.ISBN978-954-524-779-8.OCLC823743049.
![16th-century iconoclasm in the Protestant Reformation. Relief statues in St. Stevenskerk in Nijmegen, Netherlands, were attacked and defaced by Calvinists in the Beeldenstorm.[36][37]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a2008-09_Nijmegen_st_stevens_beeldenstorm.JPG)
![The Somnath Temple in Gujarat was repeatedly destroyed by Islamic armies and rebuilt by Hindus. It was destroyed by Delhi Sultanate's army in 1299 AD.[73] The present temple was reconstructed in Chalukyan style of Hindu temple architecture and completed in May 1951.[74][75]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSomnath_temple_ruins_(1869).jpg)
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![Kakatiya Kala Thoranam (Warangal Gate) built by the Kakatiya dynasty in ruins; one of the many temple complexes destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate.[69]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWarangal_fort.jpg)
![Rani Ki Vav is a stepwell, built by the Chaulukya dynasty, located in Patan; the city was sacked by Sultan of Delhi Qutb-ud-din Aybak between 1200 and 1210, and it was destroyed by the Allauddin Khilji in 1298.[69]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRani_ki_vav1.jpg)
![Exterior wall reliefs at Hoysaleswara Temple. The temple was twice sacked and plundered by the Delhi Sultanate.[76]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aExteriors_Carvings_of_Shantaleshwara_Shrine_02.jpg)
