Why do history and culture (particularly architecture) matter? Why should we fight for cultural treasures and historic buildings?
Dan Cruickshank is an expert in world history and architecture and regularly appears on television, having presented numerous series on subjects as diverse as Britain’s coastal fortifications, railways and the bridges of London, and most relevantly for tonight, the global surveys Around The World in 80 Treasures and Adventures in Architecture.
Here Dan revisits his surveys into the cultural history through architecture. Buildings give people a sense of identity and pride – particularly historic buildings and treasure houses such as Aldeburgh Moot Hall and Aldeburgh and Ipswich museums. These suggest longevity, continuity and civilised virtues, and it is for these reasons that historic buildings and museums are highly valued and also why they are attacked by forces that want to undermine a people’s pride, identity, sense of independence and even their will to fight.