8 World Heritage Sites Devastated by War: History Reduced to Ruins

• Ancient City of Bosra, Syria: Roman Theater severely damaged by shelling during Syrian civil war since 2011.
• Old Summer Palace, China: Imperial complex destroyed by British and French troops in 1860 during Second Opium War.
• Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan: Monumental 6th-century statues destroyed by Taliban explosives in March 2001.
• Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan: Atomic Bomb Dome, damaged in 1945, now a symbol for nuclear disarmament.
• Timbuktu’s Religious Sites, Mali: Mausoleums destroyed by militants in 2012, leading to war crime conviction and UNESCO-supported reconstruction.