The longevity of violence

All violence is the result of people tricking themselves into believing that their pain derives from other people and that consequently those people deserve to be punished.  

~Marshall Rosenberg

If, like me, you live in England and are interested in the Middle Ages you will now be very familiar with the ruinous state of most monastic sites and will immediately attribute their state to Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries; if in Scotland, the blame rests with the tumultuous reformation. 

It is something that is initially met with anger at the destruction of the buildings, then sadness at the loss, and finally acceptance that at least something remains and that the reason for the destruction is known.

Last week I visited the Longpont Abbey, a Cistercian monastery originally founded by Bernard of Clairvaux 1131 and nestled in the centre of a lovely little French village today. 

England has the destructive dissolution, France has the French revolution. The majority of the abbey was destroyed in the flight of the monks before the onslaught of the revolutionaries but see if you can guess what happened a little later by looking at these photos of the external west end, and a close up of the interior view of the little door on the right.

 

Yes, those are pock marks from artillery, shrapnel and goodness knows what else. WWI came to Longpont’s doorstep to make its mark on the abbey as well and an informative noticeboard behind the ticket kiosk displays photos taken in the aftermath.

I started this post with a quote to highlight a particular viewpoint. The buildings used as examples here were destroyed and damaged as the result of violence between humans. The buildings were the ‘innocent’ bystanders if you will, merely infused with the identity of the people one side wanted to destroy.

 

I’m no philosopher (you guessed right) so I have nothing profound to state on this matter yet when I’m faced with the evidence of past events scarring the present it does make me question whether it is fair that these buildings suffered too; The legacy of creators’ art, energy and skill destroyed by enemies of the creators’ successors. 

 

Equally, it is perhaps that I ascribe too much value to stone and mortar and that the human suffering should outweigh the architectural damage. Yet the things we make last far longer than our own lives so perhaps…

 

Round and round the argument it goes – where it stops, nobody knows!

Notes
Pinard, T. "L'eglise ci-devant abbatiale de Longpont (Seine-et-Oise)", Revue Archéologique, 8e Année, No. 1 (April-September, 1851), pp. 261-264

http://en.infotourisme.net/monument/longpont/5997/abbaye-notre-dame