Great Cities Save Great Buildings

“We do not want to destroy unnecessarily what men spent so much time and care and skill in making ... for these examples of craftsmanship tell us so much about our ancestors. ... If these things are lost or broken or destroyed, we lose a valuable part of our knowledge about our forefathers. No age lives entirely alone; every civilization is formed not merely by its own achievements but by what it has inherited from the past. If these things are destroyed, we have lost a part of our past, and we shall be the poorer for it.” ― Ronald Balfour, one of the World War II "Monuments Men"