{{Short description|Destruction of religious images}} {{for|the absence of representations of the natural world or certain religious figures|Aniconism}} {{redirect|Iconoclast}} [[File:Triumph orthodoxy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy'' depicting the "Triumph of Orthodoxy" over iconoclasm under the Byzantine empress Theodora and her son Michael III, late 14th to early 15th century]]
'''Iconoclasm''' ({{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|εἰκών}}'' ({{grc-transl|εἰκών}})|figure, icon||''{{wikt-lang|grc|κλάω}}'' ({{grc-transl|κλάω}})|to break}})<ref group="lower-roman">From {{langx|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|εἰκών}} + {{wikt-lang|grc|κλάω}}|{{grc-transl|εἰκών + κλάω}}|image-breaking}}. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία (''eikonoklasia'').</ref> is the belief in the importance of the destruction of icons and other images or monuments, often for religious or political reasons. Those who engage in or support iconoclasm are called '''iconoclasts''', a term that has come to be applied figuratively and more broadly to anyone who challenges "cherished beliefs or venerated institutions on the grounds that they are erroneous or pernicious".<ref>"Iconoclast, 2", ''Oxford English Dictionary''; see also "Iconoclasm" and "Iconoclastic".</ref>
Conversely, one who reveres or venerates religious images is called (by iconoclasts) an ''iconolater''; in a Byzantine context, such a person is called an ''iconodule'' or ''iconophile''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/90888|title=icono-, comb. form|website=OED Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=March 28, 2019}}</ref> Iconoclasm does not generally encompass the destruction of the images of a specific ruler after their death or overthrow, a practice better known as ''damnatio memoriae''.
While iconoclasm may be carried out by adherents of a different religion, it is more commonly the result of sectarian disputes between factions of the same religion. The term originates from the Byzantine Iconoclasm, the struggles between proponents and opponents of religious icons in the Byzantine Empire from 726 to 842 AD. While the enthusiasm for iconoclasm varies among faiths, the practice is more common in religions which oppose idolatry, such as the Abrahamic religions.<ref name="crone"/> Outside of the religious context, iconoclasm can refer to movements for widespread destruction in symbols of an ideology or cause, such as the destruction of monarchist symbols during the French Revolution.
==Early religious iconoclasm==
===Ancient era=== {{Main|Akhenaten}} In the Bronze Age, the most significant episode of iconoclasm occurred in Egypt during the Amarna Period, when Akhenaten, based in his new capital of Akhetaten, instituted a significant shift in Egyptian artistic styles alongside a campaign of intolerance towards the traditional gods and a new emphasis on a state monolatristic tradition focused on the god Aten, the Sun disk—many temples and monuments were destroyed as a result:<ref>H. James Birx, ''Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Vol. 1'', Sage Publications, US, 2006, p. 802</ref><ref>"[https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/akhenaten Akhenaten]". Encyclopedia of World Biography. 20 June 2020. via ''Encyclopedia.com''.</ref>
<blockquote>In rebellion against the old religion and the powerful priests of Amun, 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 the Aten was the one true god.</blockquote>
Public references to Akhenaten were destroyed soon after his death. Comparing the ancient Egyptians with the Israelites, Jan Assmann writes:<ref>Assmann, Jan. 2014. ''From Akhenaten to Moses: Ancient Egypt and Religious Change''. American University in Cairo Press, {{ISBN|977-416-631-0}}. p. 76.</ref>
<blockquote>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 of divine 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; in Israel, the most terrible religious crime was idolatry. In this respect Osarseph alias Akhenaten, the iconoclast, and the Golden Calf, the paragon of idolatry, correspond to each other inversely, and it is strange that Aaron 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.</blockquote>
=== Judaism === According to the Hebrew Bible, God instructed the Israelites to "destroy all [the] engraved stones, destroy all [the] molded images, and demolish all [the] high places" of the Canaanites as soon as they entered the Promised Land.<ref>''Bible'', {{bibleverse||Numbers|33:52|NKJV}} and similarly ''Bible'', {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|7:5|NKJV}}</ref>
King Hezekiah purged Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem and all figures were also destroyed in the Land of Israel, including the Nehushtan, as recorded in the Second Book of Kings. His reforms were reversed in the reign of his son Manasseh.<ref>{{Cite web|title=2 Kings 21 / Hebrew–English Bible / Mechon-Mamre|url=https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09b21.htm#2|access-date=2022-02-21|website=mechon-mamre.org}}</ref>
== Iconoclasm in Christian history == [[File:Edfu47.JPG|thumb|Defaced relief of Horus and Isis in the Temple of Edfu, Egypt. Local Christians engaged in campaigns of proselytism and iconoclasm.]] [[File:2014-07-28 iconoclast.jpg|thumb|Saint Benedict's monks destroy an image of Apollo, worshiped in the Roman Empire.]] Scattered expressions of opposition to the use of images have been reported: the Synod 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."<ref>{{Citation|title=Elvira canons|url=http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/canon%20Law/ElviraCanons.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716202800/http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Canon%20Law/ElviraCanons.htm|publisher=Cua|quote=Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colitur et adoratur in parietibus depingatur|archive-date=2012-07-16|url-status=dead}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=The Catholic Encyclopedia|quote=This canon has often been urged against the veneration of images as practised in the Catholic Church. Binterim, De Rossi, and Hefele 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, and Henri 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.}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grigg |first=Robert |date=1976-12-01 |title=Aniconic Worship and the Apologetic Tradition: A Note on Canon 36 of the Council of Elvira |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3164346 |journal=Church History |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=428–433 |doi=10.2307/3164346 |jstor=3164346 |s2cid=162369274 |issn=0009-6407|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The date of this canon is disputed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Council of Elvira, ca. 306 |url=http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Canon%20Law/ElviraCanons.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229093214/http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Canon%20Law/ElviraCanons.htm |archive-date=2016-02-29 |access-date=2023-04-17 }}</ref> Proscription ceased after the destruction of pagan temples. However, widespread use of Christian iconography only began as Christianity increasingly spread among Gentiles after the legalization of Christianity by Roman Emperor Constantine (c. 312 AD). During the process of Christianisation under Constantine, Christian groups destroyed the images and sculptures of the Roman Empire's polytheist state religion.
Among early church theologians, iconoclastic tendencies were supported by theologians such as Tertullian,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dimmick|first1=Jeremy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBNREAAAQBAJ&dq=Tertullian+iconoclast&pg=PA40|title=Images, Idolatry, and Iconoclasm in Late Medieval England: Textuality and the Visual Image|last2=Simpson|first2=James|last3=Zeeman|first3=Nicolette|year=2002|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-154196-4|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Jensen|first=Robin Margaret|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Djs3n8i1Tn8C&dq=Tertullian+iconoclast&pg=PA184|title=Understanding Early Christian Art|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-95170-2|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Strezova|first=Anita|date=2013-11-25|title=Overview on Iconophile and Iconoclastic Attitudes toward Images in Early Christianity and Late Antiquity|url=https://www.academia.edu/26284488|journal=Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies}}</ref> Clement of Alexandria,<ref name=":0" /> Origen,<ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Gorman|first=Ned|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A94pCwAAQBAJ&dq=Iconoclasm+Origen&pg=PA217|title=The Iconoclastic Imagination: Image, Catastrophe, and Economy in America from the Kennedy Assassination to September 11|date=2016|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-31023-7|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> Lactantius,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Humphreys|first=Mike|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KrJFEAAAQBAJ&dq=Lactantius+iconoclasm&pg=PA138|title=A Companion to Byzantine Iconoclasm|date=2021|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-46200-7|language=en}}</ref> Justin Martyr,<ref name=":4" /> Eusebius and Epiphanius.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Kitzinger, 92–93, 92 quoted</ref>
=== Byzantine era === {{Further|Council of Constantinople (843)|Byzantine Iconoclasm}}[[File:Clasm Chludov detail 9th century.jpg|thumb|Byzantine Iconoclasm, Chludov Psalter, 9th century<ref>{{cite web|title=Byzantine iconoclasm|url=http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/slides/14islam/iconoclasm.JPG|access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref>]]The period after the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian (527–565) evidently saw a huge increase in the use of images, both in volume and quality, and a gathering aniconic reaction.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}
One notable change within the Byzantine Empire came in 695, when Justinian II's government added a full-face image of Christ on the obverse of imperial gold coins. The change caused the Caliph Abd al-Malik to stop his earlier adoption of Byzantine coin types. He started a purely Islamic coinage with lettering only.<ref name="RC">Cormack, Robin. 1985. ''Writing in Gold, Byzantine Society and its Icons''. London: George Philip. {{ISBN|0-540-01085-5}}.</ref> A letter by the Patriarch 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.<ref>Mango, Cyril. 1977. "Historical Introduction". pp. 2–3 in ''Iconoclasm'', edited by Bryer & Herrin. Birmingham: Centre for Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham. {{ISBN|0-7044-0226-2}}.</ref>
Government-led iconoclasm began with Byzantine Emperor Leo III, who issued a series of edicts between 726 and 730 against the veneration of images.<ref>Treadgold, Warren. 1997. ''A History of the Byzantine State and Society''. Stanford University Press. pp. 350, 352–353.</ref> 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.<ref name=":1">Mango, Cyril. 2002. ''The Oxford History of Byzantium''. Oxford University Press.</ref> On the other hand, the wealthier Greeks of Constantinople and the peoples of the Balkan and Italian provinces strongly opposed iconoclasm.<ref name=":1" /> <!-- this should come out since there is a main article on the subject - it just needs to be introduced here ===The first iconoclastic period: 730–787=== Sometime between 726 and 730, the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian began the iconoclast campaign.<ref>Cf. (ed.) F. GIOIA, ''The Popes – Twenty Centuries of History'', Libreria Editrice Vaticana (2005), p. 40.</ref> He ordered the removal of an image of Jesus prominently placed over the Chalke gate, the ceremonial entrance to the Great Palace of Constantinople, and its replacement with a cross. Some of those assigned to the task were killed by a band of iconodules.<ref name="theoph1">see Theophanes, ''Chronographia''.</ref>
Over the years conflict developed between those who wanted to use the images, claiming that they were "icons" to be "venerated", and the iconoclasts who claimed they were simply idols. Pope Gregory III "convoked a synod in 730 and formally condemned iconoclasm as heretical and excommunicated its promoters. The papal letter never reached Constantinople as the messengers were intercepted and arrested in Sicily by the Byzantines".<ref>Cf. (ed.) F. GIOIA, ''The Popes – Twenty Centuries of History'', Libreria Editrice Vaticana (2005), p. 41.</ref> The Byzantine Emperor Constantine V convened the Council of Hieria in 754.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinstitute.org/index.php/chm/eighth-century/icons/ |title=Issue 54: Eastern Orthodoxy | Christian History Magazine |publisher=Chinstitute.org |access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref> The 338 bishops assembled concluded, "the unlawful art of painting living creatures blasphemed the fundamental doctrine of our salvation—namely, the Incarnation of Christ, and contradicted the six holy synods ... If anyone shall endeavour to represent the forms of the Saints in lifeless pictures with material colours which are of no value (for this notion is vain and introduced by the devil), and does not rather represent their virtues as living images in himself, etc ... let him be anathema". This Council claimed to be the legitimate "Seventh Ecumenical Council".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/icono-cncl754.asp |title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project |publisher=Fordham.edu |access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref>
===Second Council of Nicaea 787=== [[File:Seventh ecumenical council (Icon).jpg|thumb|An icon of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (17th century, Novodevichy Convent, Moscow).]] {{Main|Second Council of Nicaea}} In 780, Constantine VI ascended the throne in Constantinople, but being a minor, was managed by his mother Empress Irene. She decided that an ecumenical council needed to be held to address the issue of iconoclasm and directed this request to Pope Adrian I (772–795) in Rome. He announced his agreement and called the convention on 1 August 786 in the presence of the Emperor and Empress. The initial proceedings were interrupted by the violent entry of iconoclast soldiers faithful to the memory of the prior Emperor Constantine V. This caused the council to be adjourned until a reliable army could be assembled to protect any proceedings. The council was reassembled at Nicaea 24 September 787. During those proceedings the following was adopted:
{{quote|... we declare that we defend free from any innovations all the written and unwritten ecclesiastical traditions that have been entrusted to us. One of these is the production of representational art; this is quite in harmony with the history of the spread of the gospel, as it provides confirmation that the becoming man of the Word of God was real and not just imaginary, and as it brings us a similar benefit. For, things that mutually illustrate one another undoubtedly possess one another's message.
... we decree with full precision and care that, like the figure of the honoured and life-giving cross, the revered and holy images, whether painted or made of mosaic or of other suitable material, are to be exposed in the holy churches of God, on sacred instruments and vestments, on walls and panels, in houses and by public ways; these are the images of our Lord, God and saviour, Jesus Christ, and of our Lady without blemish, the holy God-bearer, and of the revered angels and of any of the saintly holy men. The more frequently they are seen in representational art, the more are those who see them drawn to remember and long for those who serve as models, and to pay these images the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration. Certainly this is not the full adoration in accordance with our faith, which is properly paid only to the divine nature, but it resembles that given to the figure of the honoured and life-giving cross, and also to the holy books of the gospels and to other sacred cult objects.<ref name="Tanner, Norman P. p. 132–136">Tanner, Norman P., Alberigo, G., Dossetti, J. A., Joannou, P. P., Leonardi, C., and Prodi, P., ''Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils Volume OneNicaea I to Lateran V'', pp. 132–136, Sheed & Ward and Georgetown University Press, London and Washington, D.C., {{ISBN|0-87840-490-2}}</ref>}}
(Note:see<ref name="Tanner, Norman P. p. 132–136"/> also for the original pretranslation text of this council in Greek and Latin)
===Views in Byzantine iconoclasm=== Accounts of iconoclast arguments are largely found in iconodule writings. To understand iconoclastic arguments, one must note the main points: # Iconoclasm condemned the making of any lifeless image (e.g., painting or statue) that was intended to represent Jesus or one of the saints. The "Epitome of the Definition of the Iconoclastic Conciliabulum" (Synod of Hiereia) held in 754 declared:<ref name="hieria1"/>
{{quote|Supported by the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers, we declare unanimously, in the name of the Holy Trinity, that there shall be rejected and removed and cursed one of the Christian Church every likeness which is made out of any material and colour whatever by the evil art of painters ... If anyone ventures to represent the divine image (χαρακτήρ, ''charaktēr'') of the Word after the Incarnation with material colours, let him be anathema! ... If anyone shall endeavour to represent the forms of the Saints in lifeless pictures with material colours which are of no value (for this notion is vain and introduced by the devil), and does not rather represent their virtues as living images in himself, let him be anathema!}}
# For iconoclasts, the only real religious image must be an exact likeness of the prototype—of the same substance—which they considered impossible, seeing wood and paint as empty of spirit and life. Thus for iconoclasts the only true (and permitted) "icon" of Jesus was the Eucharist, which was believed to be his body and blood. # Any true image of Jesus must be able to represent both his divine nature (which is impossible because it cannot be seen nor encompassed) as well his human nature. But by making an icon of Jesus, one is separating his human and divine natures, since only the human can be depicted (separating the natures was considered nestorianism), or else confusing the human and divine natures, considering them one (union of the human and divine natures was considered monophysitism). # Icon use for religious purposes was viewed as an innovation in the Church, a Satanic misleading of Christians to return to pagan practice.
<blockquote>Satan misled men, so that they worshipped the creature instead of the Creator. The Law of Moses and the Prophets cooperated to remove this ruin. ... But the previously mentioned demiurge of evil ... gradually brought back idolatry under the appearance of Christianity.<ref name="hieria1">{{citation |title=Epitome of the Iconoclast Council at Hieria, 754 AD |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/icono-cncl754.html |publisher=[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html Internet Medieval Sourcebook] |postscript=,}} also available from [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xvi.x.html Christian Classics Ethereal Library]</ref></blockquote>
It was also seen as a departure from ancient church tradition, of which there was a written record opposing religious images. thumb|288px|Triumph of Orthodoxy The chief theological opponents of iconoclasm were the monks Mansur (John of Damascus), who, living in Muslim territory as advisor to the Caliph of Damascus, was far enough away from the Byzantine emperor to evade retribution, and Theodore the Studite, abbot of the Stoudios monastery in Constantinople. John declared that he did not venerate matter, "but rather the creator of matter". However he also declared, "But I also venerate the matter through which salvation came to me, as if filled with divine energy and grace". He includes in this latter category the ink in which the gospels were written as well as the paint of images, the wood of the Cross, and the Body and Blood of Jesus.
The iconodule response to iconoclasm included: # Assertion that the biblical commandment forbidding images of God had been superseded by the incarnation of Jesus, who, being the Second Person of the Trinity, is God incarnate in visible matter. Therefore, they were not depicting the invisible God, but God as He appeared in the flesh. This became an attempt to shift the issue of the incarnation in their favor, whereas the iconoclasts had used the issue of the incarnation against them. # Further, in their view idols depicted persons without substance or reality while icons depicted real persons. Essentially the argument was "all religious images not of our faith are idols; all images of our faith are icons to be venerated". This was considered comparable to the Old Testament practice of offering burnt sacrifices only to God, and not to any other gods. # Moses had been instructed by God according to Exodus 25<ref>{{bibleverse||Exodus|25:18–22|NKJV}}</ref> to make golden statues of cherubim angels on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, and according to Exodus 26<ref>''Bible'', {{bibleverse||Exodus|26:31|NKJV}}</ref> God instructed Moses to embroider the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle with cherubim. Moses had also been told by God to embroider the tent walls of the Tabernacle with cherubim angels according to Exodus 26<ref>''Bible'', {{bibleverse||Exodus|26:1|NKJV}}</ref> and Exodus 36.<ref>''Bible'', {{bibleverse||Exodus|36:8|NKJV}}</ref> # Regarding the written tradition opposing the making and veneration of images, they asserted that icons were part of unrecorded oral tradition (''parádosis'', sanctioned in Christianity as authoritative in doctrine by reference to Thessalonians 2<ref>''Bible'', {{bibleverse|2|Thessalonians|2:15|NKJV}}</ref>, Basil the Great, etc.). # Arguments were drawn from the miraculous Acheiropoieta, the supposed icon of the Virgin painted with her approval by St. Luke, and other miraculous occurrences around icons, that demonstrated divine approval of Iconodule practices. # Iconodules further argued that decisions such as whether icons ought to be venerated were properly made by the church assembled in council, not imposed on the church by an emperor. Thus the argument also involved the issue of the proper relationship between church and state. Related to this was the observation that it was foolish to deny to God the same honor that was freely given to the human emperor. -->
=== Pre-Reformation === Peter of Bruys opposed the usage of religious images,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kim|first=Elijah Jong Fil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tl5NAwAAQBAJ&dq=Peter+of+Bruys+reformation&pg=PA201|title=The Rise of the Global South: The Decline of Western Christendom and the Rise of Majority World Christianity|date=2012|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-61097-970-2|language=en}}</ref> the Strigolniki were also possibly iconoclastic.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Michalski|first=Sergiusz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PM2sDPFP9dEC&q=Reformation+and+the+Visual+Arts%3A+The+Protestant+Image+Question+in+Western|title=Reformation and the Visual Arts: The Protestant Image Question in Western and Eastern Europe|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-92102-7|language=en}}</ref> Claudius of Turin was the bishop of Turin from 817 until his death.<ref name="ODCC">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late/page/359|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|edition=3rd|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-211655-X|editor1=F. L. Cross|location=US|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00late/page/359 359]|editor2=E. A. Livingstone}}</ref> He is most noted for teaching iconoclasm.<ref name="ODCC" />
===Reformation era=== {{further|Beeldenstorm|Iconophobia#Iconophobia and the English Reformation}} [[File:Tachtigjarigeoorlog-1566.png|thumb|Extent (in blue) of the ''Beeldenstorm'' through the Spanish Netherlands]] The first iconoclastic wave happened in Wittenberg in the early 1520s under reformers Thomas Müntzer and Andreas Karlstadt. In 1522 Karlstadt published his tract, [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Von_abtuhung_der_Bylder "Von abtuhung der Bylder"]. ("On the removal of images"), which added to the growing unrest in Wittenberg.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lindberg |first=Carter |title=The European reformations |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-119-64081-3 |edition=3rd |location=Chichester, United Kingdom Hoboken, New Jersey |pages=84–91}}</ref> 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.<ref>Dorner, Isaak August. 1871. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AgRBAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22The+Scripture+has+pictures%22&pg=PA146 ''History of Protestant Theology'']. Edinburgh. p. 146.</ref>
In contrast to the Lutherans who favoured certain types of sacred art in their churches and homes,<ref name="Lamport2017">{{cite book |last=Lamport |first=Mark A. |title=Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation |year=2017 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |language=en|isbn=978-1442271593 |page=138 |quote=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's ''theologia 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.}}</ref><ref name="Felix2015"/> the Reformed (Calvinist) leaders, in particular Karlstadt, Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin, encouraged the removal of religious images by invoking the Decalogue's prohibition of idolatry and the manufacture of graven (sculpted) images of God.<ref name="Felix2015">{{cite book |last=Félix |first=Steven |title=Pentecostal Aesthetics: Theological Reflections in a Pentecostal Philosophy of Art and Esthetics |year= 2015 |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |language=en |isbn=978-9004291621 |page=22 |quote=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.}}</ref> As a result, individuals attacked statues and images, most famously in the ''beeldenstorm'' across the Low Countries in 1566.
The belief of iconoclasm caused havoc throughout Europe. In 1523, specifically due to the Swiss reformer 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".<ref>Wallace, Peter George. 2004. ''The Long European Reformation: Religion, Political Conflict, and the Search for Conformity, 1350–1750''. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 95.</ref>
Significant iconoclastic riots took place in Basel (in 1529), Zürich (1523), Copenhagen (1530), Münster (1534), Geneva (1535), Augsburg (1537), Scotland (1559), Rouen (1560), and Saintes and La Rochelle (1562).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ekSkZXXjVWUC&pg=RA1-PA148 |title=Neil Kamil, ''Fortress of the soul: violence, metaphysics, and material life'', p. 148 |access-date=2013-04-30|isbn=978-0801873904 |last1=Kamil |first1=Neil |date=2005 |publisher=JHU Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Voracious Idols and Violent Hands|last=Wandel|first=Lee Palmer|publisher=Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|year=1995|isbn=978-0-521-47222-7|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=[https://archive.org/details/voraciousidolsvi0000wand/page/149 149]|url=https://archive.org/details/voraciousidolsvi0000wand/page/149}}</ref> Calvinist iconoclasm in Europe "provoked reactive riots by Lutheran mobs" in Germany and "antagonized the neighbouring Eastern Orthodox" in the Baltic region.<ref name="Marshall2009">{{cite book|last=Marshall|first=Peter|title=The Reformation|url=https://archive.org/details/reformationverys00mars|url-access=limited|date=22 October 2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=978-0191578885|page=[https://archive.org/details/reformationverys00mars/page/n122 114]|quote=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.}}</ref>
The Seventeen Provinces (now the Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of Northern France) were disrupted by widespread Calvinist iconoclasm in the summer of 1566.<ref name="Kleiner2010">{{cite book|last=Kleiner|first=Fred S.|title=Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Concise History of Western Art|year=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|language=en |isbn=978-1424069224|page=254|quote=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.}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Calvinist iconoclasm during the Reformation" heights="210"> File:Destruction of icons in Zurich 1524.jpg|Destruction of religious images by the Reformed in Zürich, Switzerland, 1524 File:Le Sac de Lyon par les Réformés - Vers1565.jpg|''Looting of the Churches of Lyon by the Calvinists in 1562'' by Antoine Caron File:Iconoclasm Clocher Saint Barthelemy south side La Rochelle.jpg|Remains of Calvinist iconoclasm, Clocher Saint-Barthélémy, La Rochelle, France File:2008-09 Nijmegen st stevens beeldenstorm.JPG|16th-century iconoclasm in the Protestant Reformation. Relief statues in St. Stevenskerk in Nijmegen, Netherlands, were attacked and defaced by Calvinists in the ''Beeldenstorm''.<ref name="Stark2007">{{cite book |last=Stark |first=Rodney |title=The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success|year=2007 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |language=en |isbn=978-1588365002 |page=176 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref name="Byfield2002">{{cite book |last=Byfield|first=Ted|title=A Century of Giants, A.D. 1500 to 1600: In an Age of Spiritual Genius, Western Christendom Shatters |year=2002 |publisher=Christian History Project |language=en |isbn=978-0968987391 |page=297 |quote=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.}}</ref> </gallery>
[[File:Ed and pope.png|thumb|right|alt=A painting|288px|In this Elizabethan work of propaganda, the top right depicts men pulling down and smashing icons, while power is shifting from the dying King Henry VIII at left, pointing to his staunchly Protestant son, the boy-king Edward VI at centre.<ref>{{citation | last =Aston| first = Margaret| title =The King's Bedpost: Reformation and Iconography in a Tudor Group Portrait| year =1993 | publisher=Cambridge University Press| place = Cambridge| isbn =978-0-521-48457-2}}. </ref><ref>{{citation | last =Loach | first = Jennifer | title =Edward VI |editor1-first=George |editor1-last=Bernard |editor2-first=Penry|editor2-last=Williams| year =1999 | publisher=Yale University Press | place= New Haven, CT | isbn =978-0-300-07992-0 |page=187}}</ref><ref>{{citation | last =Hearn | first =Karen | title =Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530–1630 | year =1995 | publisher =Rizzoli | place =New York | isbn =978-0-8478-1940-9 | url =https://archive.org/details/dynastiespaintin00kare |pages=75–76}}</ref>]] During the Reformation in England, which started during the reign of Henry VIII, and was urged on by reformers such as Hugh Latimer and Thomas 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 the Putting away of Books and Images Act.<ref>Heal, Felicity (2005), [https://books.google.com/books?id=mtGoSCVhRFIC&dq=1550+statute+for+abolishing+images&pg=PA264 ''Reformation in Britain and Ireland''], Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-928015-5}} (pp. 263–264)</ref>
During the English Civil War, the Parliamentarians reorganised the administration of East Anglia into the Eastern Association of counties. This covered some of the wealthiest counties in England, which in turn financed a substantial and significant military force. After Earl of Manchester was appointed the commanding officer of these forces, in turn he appointed Smasher Dowsing as Provost Marshal, with a warrant to demolish religious images which were considered to be superstitious or linked with popism.<ref name="Evelyn White Dowsing 1886">{{cite journal |last1=Evelyn White |first1=Parliamentary Visitor |title=The Journal of William Dowsing, Parliamentary Visitor |journal=Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History |date=1886 |volume=VI |issue=Part 2 |pages=236 to 295 |url=https://suffolkinstitute.pdfsrv.co.uk/customers/Suffolk%20Institute/2014/01/10/Volume%20VI%20Part%202%20(1886)_Journal%20of%20W%20Dowsing%20Parliamentary%20Visitor%20&c%20E%20White%20C%20H_236%20to%20295.pdf|author1-link=Charles Harold Evelyn-White }}</ref> Bishop Joseph Hall of Norwich described the events of 1643 when troops and citizens, encouraged by a Parliamentary ordinance against superstition and idolatry, behaved thus:
<blockquote>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.</blockquote>
[[File:Altarpiece fragments late 1300 early 1400 destroyed during the English Dissolution mid 16th century.jpg|thumb|left|Altarpiece fragments (late 1300 – early 1400) destroyed during the English Dissolution of the Monasteries, mid-16th century]] <!-- Again - there is a main article elsewhere William Dowsing was commissioned and salaried by the government to tour the towns and villages of East Anglia to destroy images in churches. His detailed record of his trail of destruction through Suffolk and Cambridgeshire survives:<ref name="Dowsing">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofdowsing00whituoft |title=The journal of William Dowsing of Stratford, parliamentary visitor, appointed under a warrant from the Earl of Manchester, for demolishing the superstitious pictures and ornaments of churches &c., within the county of Suffolk, in the years 1643– 1644 |year=1885 |last=White |first=C.H. Evelyn |page=[https://archive.org/details/journalofdowsing00whituoft/page/15 15] }}</ref>
{{Blockquote|We broke down about a hundred superstitious Pictures; and seven Fryars hugging a Nunn; and the Picture of God and Christ; and divers others very superstitious; and 200 had been broke down before I came. We took away 2 popish Inscriptions with ''Ora pro nobis'' and we beat down a great stoneing Cross on the top of the Church.|Dowsing,<ref name="Dowsing"/> p. 15, Haverhill, Suffolk, January 6, 1644}} --> 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",<ref name="Naaeke2006">{{cite book|last=Naaeke|first=Anthony Y.|title=Kaleidoscope Catechesis: Missionary Catechesis in Africa, Particularly in the Diocese of Wa in Ghana|year=2006|publisher=Peter Lang|language=en|isbn=978-0820486857|page=114|quote=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.}}</ref> 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?"<ref name="Noble2009">{{cite book|last=Noble|first=Bonnie|title=Lucas Cranach the Elder: Art and Devotion of the German Reformation|url=https://archive.org/details/lucascranachelde00nobl_213|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=University Press of America|language=en|isbn=978-0761843375|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lucascranachelde00nobl_213/page/n75 67]–69}}</ref> Lutheran churches retained ornate church interiors with a prominent crucifix, reflecting their high view of the real presence of Christ in Eucharist.<ref name="Spicer2016"/><ref name="Lamport2017"/> As such, "Lutheran worship became a complex ritual choreography set in a richly furnished church interior."<ref name="Spicer2016">{{cite book|last=Spicer|first=Andrew|title=Lutheran Churches in Early Modern Europe|year= 2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|language=en|isbn=978-1351921169|page=237|quote=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.).}}</ref> For Lutherans, "the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image".<ref name="Dixon2012">{{cite book|last=Dixon|first=C. Scott|title=Contesting the Reformation|year=2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|language=en|isbn=978-1118272305|page=146|quote=According to Koerner, who dwells on Lutheran art, the Reformation renewed rather than removed the religious image.}}</ref>
Lutheran scholar Jeremiah Ohl writes:<ref>Ohl, Jeremiah F. 1906. "Art in Worship". pp. 83–99 in [https://blc.edu/comm/gargy/gargy1/Memoirs.Volume2.html ''Memoirs of the Lutheran Liturgical Association'' 2]. Pittsburgh: Lutheran Liturgical Association.</ref>{{Rp|88–89}}<blockquote>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?</blockquote>The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who had pragmatic reasons to support the Dutch Revolt (the rebels, like himself, were fighting against Spain) also completely approved of their act of "destroying idols", which accorded well with Muslim teachings.<ref>{{cite book |last=İnalcık |first=Halil |author-link=Halil İnalcık |chapter=The Turkish Impact on the Development of Modern Europe | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orEfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA51 |editor-last=Karpat | editor-first=K. H. |editor-link=Kemal Karpat| title=The Ottoman State and Its Place in World History: Introduction | publisher=Brill | series=Armenian Research Center collection | year=1974 | isbn=978-90-04-03945-2 |location=Leiden |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=orEfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA53 53] <!-- 51–60 -->}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjC7K1j_AT8C&pg=PA208|title=Muslims and the Gospel: Bridging the Gap : a Reflection on Christian Sharing|first=Roland E.|last=Miller|year=2006|publisher=Kirk House Publishers|isbn=978-1932688078|via=Google Books}}</ref>
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: the still life, landscape and genre paintings.<ref>{{cite book |title=Art after iconoclasm: painting in the Netherlands between 1566 and 1585 |date=2012 |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |isbn=978-2-503-54596-7}}</ref>{{rp|44,25,40}}
=== Other instances === In Japan during the early modern age, the spread 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 several daimyos, Christian converts would often destroy Buddhist and Shinto religious structures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strathern |first=Alan |date=2020 |title=The Many Meanings of Iconoclasm: Warrior and Christian Temple-Shrine Destruction in Late Sixteenth Century Japan |journal=Journal of Early Modern History |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=163–193 |doi=10.1163/15700658-bja10023 |s2cid=229468278 |issn=1385-3783|doi-access=free }}</ref>
Many of the moai of Easter Island were toppled during the 18th century in the iconoclasm of civil wars before any European encounter.<ref>{{cite book | last=Fischer | first=Steven Roger | title=Island at the end of the world: The turbulent history of Easter Island | publisher=Reaktion | publication-place=London | year=2006 | isbn=1-86189-282-9 | oclc=646808462 |page=64}}</ref> Other instances of iconoclasm may have occurred throughout Eastern Polynesia during its conversion to Christianity in the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wellington|first=Victoria University of|date=April 4, 2014|title=New view of Polynesian conversion to Christianity|url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/victorious/2013/autumn-2013/new-view-of-polynesian-conversion-to-christianity|website=Victoria University of Wellington}}</ref>
After the Second Vatican Council in the late 20th century, some Roman Catholic parish churches discarded much of their traditional imagery and art which critics call iconoclasm.<ref>{{cite web|last=Chessman|first=Stuart|title=Hetzendorf and the Iconoclasm in the Second Half of the 20th Century|url=http://sthughofcluny.org/2011/02/hetzendorf-and-the-iconoclasm-in-the-second-half-of-the-20th-century.html|access-date=2013-04-30|publisher=The Society of St. Hugh of Cluny}}</ref>
==Muslim iconoclasm==<!-- This section is linked from Umayyad --> {{further|Aniconism in Islam}} <!-- destruction of another religion's images is not iconoclasm [[File:Taller Buddha of Bamiyan before and after destruction.jpg|thumb|The taller of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 1963 and in 2008 after destruction]] -->[[File:Paris, BnF, Supplément Persan 1030 fol. 305v-306r Muhammad and Ali lead destruction of Meccan idols.jpg|thumb|Islamic miniature depicting Muhammad and Ali (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,<ref name="crone">Crone, Patricia. 2005. "[https://www.hs.ias.edu/files/Crone_Articles/Crone_Islam_Judeo-Christianity_and_Byzantine_Iconoclasm.pdf Islam, Judeo-Christianity and Byzantine Iconoclasm]". {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111005621/https://www.hs.ias.edu/files/Crone_Articles/Crone_Islam_Judeo-Christianity_and_Byzantine_Iconoclasm.pdf |date=2018-11-11 }}. pp. 59–96 in ''From Kavād to al-Ghazālī: Religion, Law and Political Thought in the Near East, c. 600–1100'', (''Variorum''). Ashgate Publishing.</ref> with some Sunnis forbidding it entirely. In the history of Islam, the act of removing idols from the Ka'ba in Mecca has great symbolic and historic importance for all believers.
In general, Muslim societies have avoided the depiction of living beings (both animals and humans) within such sacred spaces as mosques and madrasahs. This ban on figural representation is not based on the Qur'an, instead, it is based on traditions which are described within the Hadith. The prohibition of figuration has not always been extended to the secular sphere, and a robust tradition of figural representation exists within Muslim art.<ref name="flood2002">{{cite journal |last=Flood |first=Finbarr Barry |title=Between cult and culture: Bamiyan, Islamic iconoclasm, and the museum |journal=The Art Bulletin |volume=84 |issue=4 |year=2002 |pages=641–659 |doi=10.2307/3177288|jstor=3177288 }}</ref> However, Western authors have tended to perceive "a long, culturally determined, and unchanging tradition of violent iconoclastic acts" within Islamic society.<ref name="flood2002"/>
=== Early Islam in Arabia === The first act of Muslim iconoclasm dates to the beginning of Islam, in 630, when the various statues of Arabian deities housed in the Kaaba in Mecca were destroyed. There is a tradition that Muhammad spared a fresco of Mary and Jesus.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Life of Muhammad. A translation of Ishaq's "Sirat Rasul Allah".|publisher=Oxford University Press | last=Guillaume | first=Alfred | author-link=Alfred Guillaume | year=1955 | page=552 | isbn=978-0-19-636033-1 | quote=Quraysh had put pictures in the Ka'ba including two of Jesus son of Mary and Mary (on both of whom be peace!). ... The apostle ordered that the pictures should be erased except those of Jesus and Mary. | url=https://archive.org/details/IbnIshaq-SiratRasulAllah-translatorA.Guillaume | access-date=2011-12-08}}</ref> This act was intended to bring an end to the idolatry which, in the Muslim view, characterized Jahiliyyah.
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 the caliphate. 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 the Umayyad caliph Yazīd II in 722–723.<ref>{{cite book | last=Grabar | first=André | title=L'iconoclasme byzantin: le dossier archéologique |trans-title=Byzantine iconoclasm: The archaeological record | publisher=Flammarion | series=Champs | year=1984 |orig-year=1957 |isbn=978-2-08-012603-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9GfAAAAMAAJ | language=fr | pages=155–156}}</ref> 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-day Jordan, where archaeological 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 the Levant continued to make icons without significant interruption from the sixth century to the ninth.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = King | first1 = G. R. D. | year = 1985 | title = Islam, iconoclasm, and the declaration of doctrine | journal = Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies | volume = 48 | issue = 2| pages = 276–277 | doi=10.1017/s0041977x00033346| s2cid = 162882785 }}</ref>
=== Egypt === [[File:Sphinx of Giza 9059.jpg|thumb|The Great Sphinx of Giza's profile in 2010, without its nose]] Al-Maqrīzī, writing in the 15th century, attributes the missing nose on the Great Sphinx of Giza to iconoclasm by Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=What happened to the Sphinx's nose? |url=https://www.smithsonianjourneys.org/blog/photo-what-happened-to-the-sphinxs-nose-180950757/ |website=Smithsonian Journeys |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |date=December 8, 2009}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Lehner>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/sphinx00chri|title=Sphinx : history of a monument|first=Christiane|last=Zivie-Coche|year=2004|publisher=Ithaca : Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0801489549|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
=== Ottoman conquests === Certain conquering Muslim armies have used local temples or houses of worship as mosques. An example is Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), 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 the American Byzantine Institute beginning in 1932.
=== Contemporary events === {{further|Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia|Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL}} Certain Muslim denominations continue to pursue iconoclastic agendas. There has been much controversy within Islam over the recent and apparently on-going destruction of historic sites by Saudi Arabian authorities, prompted by the fear they could become the subject of "idolatry".<ref>{{cite news |last=Howden |first=Daniel |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article304029.ece |title=Independent Newspaper on-line, London, Jan 19, 2007 |publisher=News.independent.co.uk |date=2005-08-06 |access-date=2013-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908083433/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article304029.ece |archive-date=September 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | last=Ahmed | first=Irfan |date=2006 | title=The Destruction of Holy Sites in Mecca and Medina | magazine=Islamica Magazine |number=15 | url=http://www.islamicamagazine.com/content/view/161/59/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060205043008/http://www.islamicamagazine.com/content/view/161/59/ | archive-date=5 February 2006 | url-status=dead | access-date=21 November 2020}}</ref>
A recent act of iconoclasm was the 2001 destruction of the giant Buddhas of Bamyan by the then-Taliban government of Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web|title=Afghan Taliban leader orders destruction of ancient statues|url=http://www.rawa.org/statues.htm|access-date=2013-04-30|publisher=Rawa.org}}</ref> 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.<ref name="flood2002"/> 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.<ref name="flood2002"/> Taliban spokesmen have given many different explanations of the motives for the destruction.
During the Tuareg rebellion of 2012, the radical Islamist militia Ansar Dine destroyed various Sufi shrines from the 15th and 16th centuries in the city of Timbuktu, Mali.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Tharoor |first=Ishaan |title=Timbuktu's Destruction: Why Islamists Are Wrecking Mali's Cultural Heritage |url=https://world.time.com/2012/07/02/timbuktus-destruction-why-islamists-are-wrecking-malis-cultural-heritage/ |magazine=Time|access-date=10 July 2012 |date=2012-07-02}}</ref> In 2016, the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Ahmad 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.<ref name="Atlantic">{{cite web|title=Nine Years for the Cultural Destruction of Timbuktu|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/09/timbuktu-verdict-icc/501761/|website=The Atlantic|access-date=21 October 2017|date=2016-09-27}}</ref>
The Islamic 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)<ref>{{cite news|title=Iraq jihadists blow up 'Jonah's tomb' in Mosul|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10989959/Iraq-jihadists-blow-up-Jonahs-tomb-in-Mosul.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10989959/Iraq-jihadists-blow-up-Jonahs-tomb-in-Mosul.html |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=25 July 2014|work=The Telegraph|agency=Agence France-Presse|date=25 July 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and destroying the Shrine to Seth in Mosul.<ref>{{cite news|title=ISIS destroys Prophet Sheth shrine in Mosul|url=http://www.english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/07/26/ISIS-destroy-Prophet-Sheth-shrine-in-Mosul-.html|publisher=Al Arabiya News|date=26 July 2014|access-date=4 September 2016|archive-date=16 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916204834/http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/07/26/ISIS-destroy-Prophet-Sheth-shrine-in-Mosul-.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Iconoclasm against Indian-origin religions== <span class="anchor" id="Destruction_of_Hindu_temples"></span> {{further|Religious violence in India}}
India is birthplace of four major Indian religions, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism which have been target of invasion, colonisation, ethnocide, religious-cultural genocide by Islam and Christian invaders and colonisers.
===During Hindu-Buddhist era===
Christian writer Eaton Richard claims that in early Medieval India, there were numerous recorded instances of temple desecration by Indian kings against rival Indian kingdoms, which involved conflicts between devotees of different Hindu deities, as well as conflicts between Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains.<ref name="Eaton-dec">{{cite magazine |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |date=9 December 2000 |title=Temple desecration in pre-modern India |at="In 642 A.D." (pp. 65–66) |magazine=Frontline |volume=17 |issue=25 |publisher=The Hindu Group |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article30255557.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211181300/http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1725/17250620.htm |archive-date=11 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Eaton-sep" |pages=286 |date=July 2025}}<ref name="Eaton 2004">{{cite book |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |title=Temple desecration and Muslim states in medieval India |date=2004 |publisher=Hope India Publications |isbn=978-8178710273 |location=Gurgaon |pages=31–49 |quote=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.}}</ref>
=== By Muslims=== {{see also|Hindutva iconoclasm | Criticism_of_Islam#The_expansion_of_Islam | l2= Genocide by Islamic invaders | Jihad }}
Records from the campaign recorded in the ''Chach Nama'' record the destruction of temples during the early 8th century when the Umayyad governor of Damascus, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf,<ref>Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg: The Chachnamah, An Ancient History of Sind, Giving the Hindu period down to the Arab Conquest. [http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=12701030&ct=18] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019110844/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=12701030&ct=18|date=2017-10-19}}</ref> mobilized an expedition of 6000 cavalry under Muhammad bin Qasim in 712.
Historian Upendra Thakur records the persecution of Hindus and Buddhists:
{{blockquote|Muhammad triumphantly marched into the country, conquering Debal, Sehwan, Nerun, Brahmanadabad, Alor and Multan 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.<ref name="Thakkur">''Sindhi Culture'' by U. T. Thakkur, Univ. of Bombay Publications, 1959. {{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=December 2024}}</ref>}} <gallery mode="packed" caption="Iconoclasm during the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent" heights="210"> Somnath temple ruins (1869).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.<ref name=eaton200080>{{cite magazine |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |date=5 January 2001 |title=Temple desecration and Indo-Muslim states |magazine=Frontline |volume=17 |issue=26 |publisher=The Hindu Group |via=Columbia University |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples2.pdf#page=4 |page=73 |postscript=,}} item 16 of the Table. [https://frontline.thehindu.com/magazine/issue/vol17-26/ Issue 26 online.]</ref> The present temple was reconstructed in Chalukyan style of Hindu temple architecture and completed in May 1951.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wVr_f_gXOX4C&pg=PA148|title=Hindu culture during and after Muslim rule: survival and subsequent challenges|author=Gopal, Ram|publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd.|year=1994|isbn=81-85880-26-3|page=148}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sICSb-UMiQYC&pg=PA84|title=The Hindu nationalist movement and Indian politics: 1925 to the 1990s|last=Jaffrelot |first=Christophe|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|year=1996|isbn=1-85065-170-1|page=84}}</ref>
Temple Of Vishveshwur Benares by James Prinsep 1834 (cropped).jpg|The Kashi Vishwanath Temple was repeatedly destroyed by Islamic invaders such as Qutb al-Din Aibak. Sun temple martand indogreek.jpg|Ruins of the Martand Sun Temple. The temple was destroyed on the orders of Muslim Sultan Sikandar Butshikan in the early 15th century, with demolition lasting a year. Temple de Mînâkshî01.jpg|The armies of Delhi Sultanate led by Muslim Commander Malik Kafur plundered the Meenakshi Temple and looted it of its valuables. Warangal_fort.jpg|Kakatiya Kala Thoranam (Warangal Gate) built by the Kakatiya dynasty in ruins; one of the many temple complexes destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate.<ref name=Eaton-sep>{{cite journal |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |date=1 September 2000 |title=Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=283–319 |publisher=Oxford University Press |issn=0955-2340 |doi=10.1093/jis/11.3.283 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Rani ki vav1.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.<ref name=Eaton-sep/> Elevation of Kirtistambh Rudramahalaya Sidhpur Gujarat India.jpg|Artistic rendition of the Kirtistambh at Rudra Mahalaya Temple. The temple was destroyed by Alauddin Khalji. Exteriors Carvings of Shantaleshwara Shrine 02.jpg|Exterior wall reliefs at Hoysaleswara Temple. The temple was twice sacked and plundered by the Delhi Sultanate.<ref name="Bradnock2000p959">{{cite book|first1=Robert|last1=Bradnock|first2=Roma|last2=Bradnock|title=India Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2hCFDsTbmhoC|year=2000|publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-658-01151-1|page=959}}</ref> </gallery>
==== The Somnath temple and Mahmud of Ghazni ==== In 1296 AD, the temple was once again destroyed by Sultan Allauddin Khilji's army.<ref name="Leaves from the past">{{cite web|title=Leaves from the past|url=http://www.indiafirstfoundation.org/Glimpses%20of%20Indian%20History/Articles/Leaves%20From%20The%20Past/Somnath%20thesymbolofNtionalpride_m.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110153239/http://www.indiafirstfoundation.org/Glimpses%20of%20Indian%20History/Articles/Leaves%20From%20The%20Past/Somnath%20thesymbolofNtionalpride_m.htm|archive-date=2007-01-10}}</ref><ref name="gujaratindia.com"/> According to Taj-ul-Ma'sir of Hasan Nizami, Raja Karan of Gujarat was defeated and forced to flee, "fifty thousand infidels were dispatched to hell by the sword" and "more than twenty thousand slaves, and cattle beyond all calculation fell into the hands of the victors".<ref name="Leaves from the past"/> The temple was rebuilt by Mahipala Deva, the Chudasama king of Saurashtra in 1308 AD and the lingam was installed by his son Khengar sometime between 1326 and 1351 AD. In 1375 AD, the temple was once again destroyed by Muzaffar Shah I, the Sultan of Gujarat.<ref name="Leaves from the past"/>
In 1451 AD, the temple was once again destroyed by Mahmud Begda, the Sultan of Gujarat.<ref name="Leaves from the past"/><ref name="gujaratindia.com"/> In 1701 AD, the temple was once again destroyed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.<ref name="Leaves from the past"/> Aurangzeb built a mosque on the site of the Somnath Temple, using some columns from the temple, whose Hindu sculptural motifs remained visible.
Mahmud of Ghazni was an Afghan Sultan who invaded the Indian subcontinent during the early 11th century. His campaigns across the gangetic plains are often cited for their iconoclastic plundering and destruction of temples such as those at Mathura and he looked upon their destruction as an act of ''"jihad"''.<ref>{{cite book |last= Saunders |first= Kenneth |author-link = Kenneth James Saunders |title= A Pageant of India |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.522947 |publisher = H. Milford, Oxford University Press |page=162 }}</ref> He sacked the second Somnath Temple in 1026, and looted it of gems and precious stones and the famous Shiva lingam of the temple was destroyed.<ref> {{cite book |last = Kakar |first = Sudhir |author-link = Sudhir Kakar |title = The Colors of Violence: Cultural Identities, Religion, and Conflict |url = https://archive.org/details/colorsofviolence00kaka |url-access = registration |publisher = University of Chicago Press |page=50 |isbn = 0-226-42284-4 }} </ref>
Historical records compiled by Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai attest to the iconoclasm of Qutb-ud-din Aybak. The first mosque built in Delhi, the "Quwwat al-Islam" was built after the demolition of the Hindu temple built previously by Prithvi Raj and certain parts of the temple were left outside the mosque proper.<ref name="Hai">Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai "Hindustan Islami Ahad Mein" (Hindustan under Islamic rule), Eng Trans by Maulana Abdul Hasan Nadwi.</ref> This pattern of iconoclasm was common during his reign, although an argument goes that such iconoclasm was motivated more by politics than by religion.<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routes/1200_1299/index_1200_1299.html Index_1200-1299], Columbia.edu.</ref>
Another ruler of the sultanate, Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, conquered and subjugated the Hindu pilgrimage site Varanasi in the 11th century and he continued the destruction of Hindu temples and idols that had begun during the first attack in 1194.<ref> {{cite book |last= Elliot|first= Henry Miers |title= The History of India: as told by its own historians; the Muhammadan period (Excerpt from Jamiu'l-Hikayat) |publisher= University of Michigan |year= 1953}}</ref>
No aspect of Aurangzeb's reign is more cited—or more controversial—than the numerous desecrations and even the destruction of Hindu temples.<ref name="Aurangzeb">[http://www.the-south-asian.com/Dec2000/Aurangzeb.htm The South Asian] ''Aurangzeb profile''.</ref> During his reign, tens of thousands of temples were desecrated: their facades and interiors were defaced and their murtis (divine images) looted.<ref name="Aurangzeb"/> In many cases, temples were destroyed entirely; in numerous instances mosques were built on their foundations, sometimes using the same stones. Among the temples Aurangzeb destroyed were two that are most sacred to Hindus, in Varanasi and Mathura.<ref name="Mughaltemples">[http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/modern/temple_aurangzeb.html Rajiv Varma] ''Destruction of Hindu Temples'' by Aurangzeb.</ref> In both cases, he had large mosques built on the sites.<ref name="Aurangzeb"/>
thumb|The original holy well – Gyanvapi in between temple and mosque. The Kesava Deo temple in Mathura, marked the place that Hindus believe was the birthplace of Shri Krishna.<ref name="Mughaltemples"/> In 1661 Aurangzeb ordered the demolition of the temple, and constructed the Katra Masjid mosque. Traces of the ancient Hindu temple can be seen from the back of the mosque. Aurangzeb also destroyed what was the most famous temple in Varanasi – the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.<ref name="Mughaltemples"/>
The temple had changed its location over the years, and in 1585 Akbar had authorized its location at Gyan Vapi. Aurangzeb ordered its demolition in 1669 and constructed a mosque on the site, whose minarets stand 71 metres above the Ganges. Traces of the old temple can be seen behind the mosque. Centuries later, emotional debate about these wanton acts of cultural desecration continues. Aurangzeb also destroyed the Somnath temple in 1706.<ref name="Mughaltemples"/>
Hindus claim that Mughals destroyed the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, located at the birthplace of Rama, and built the Babri Masjid on the holy site, which has since been a source of tension between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
Writer Fernand Braudel wrote in ''A History of Civilizations'' (Penguin 1988/1963, pp. 232–236), Islamic rule in India as a "colonial experiment" was "extremely violent", and "the Muslims could not rule the country except by systematic terror. Cruelty was the norm – burnings, summary executions, crucifixions or impalements, inventive tortures. Hindu temples were destroyed to make way for mosques. On occasion there were forced conversions. If ever there were an uprising, it was instantly and savagely repressed: houses were burned, the countryside was laid waste, men were slaughtered and women were taken as slaves."
C. K. Kareem also notes that Tipu Sultan issued an edict for the destruction of Hindu temples in Kerala.<ref name="rpersecutor5">{{cite book | last = Kareem | first = C. K. | title = Kerala Under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan P187 | orig-year = 1973 | year = 1973 | publisher = Kerala History Association : distributors, Paico Pub. House | page = 322 }}</ref>
==== From the Mamluk dynasty onward ====
Historical records which were compiled by the Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai attest to the religious violence which occurred during the Mamluk dynasty under Qutb-ud-din Aybak. The first mosque built in Delhi, the "Quwwat al-Islam" was built with demolished parts of 20 Hindu and Jain temples.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/233/|title=Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref><ref>Welch, Anthony, and Howard Crane. 1983. "The Tughluqs: Master Builders of the Delhi Sultanate". ''Muqarnas'' 1:123–166. {{JSTOR|1523075}}:
The Quwwatu'l-Islam was built with the remains of demolished Hindu and Jain temples.</ref> This pattern of iconoclasm was common during his reign.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pritchett |first=Frances W. |title=Indian routes: Some memorable ventures, adventures, and other happenings, in and about south Asia: 1200–1299 |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routes/1200_1299/index_1200_1299.html|via=Columbia University}}</ref>
During the Delhi Sultanate, a Muslim army led by Malik Kafur, a general of Alauddin 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.<ref>Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, A History of India, 3rd Edition, Routledge, 1998, {{ISBN|0-415-15482-0}}, pp. 160–161</ref><ref>Roshen Dalal (2002). The Puffin History of India for Children, 3000 BC – AD 1947. Penguin Books. p. 195. {{ISBN|978-0-14-333544-3}}.</ref>
In Kashmir, Sikandar Shah Miri (1389–1413) began expanding, and unleashed religious violence that earned him the name ''but-shikan'', or 'idol-breaker'.<ref>Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor. ''E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936'', Volume 4. Leiden: Brill. {{ISBN|90-04-097902}}. p. 793</ref> He earned this sobriquet 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 the Brahmins, Sikundur ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down."<ref name="Firishta 1829–1981 Reprint">{{cite book|last=Firishta|first=Muhammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh|title=Tārīkh-i-Firishta|year=1981|location=New Delhi|translator=John Briggs|trans-title=History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India|author-link=Firishta|orig-year=1829}}</ref> He destroyed vast majority of Hindu and Buddhist temples in his reach in Kashmir region (north and northwest India).<ref>Elliot and Dowson. "The Muhammadan Period". pp. 457–459 in ''The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians'', Vol. 6. London: Trubner & Co. p. 457.</ref>
A regional tradition, along with the Hindu text ''Madala Panji'', states that Kalapahar attacked and damaged the Konark Sun Temple in 1568, as well as many others in Orissa.<ref>{{cite book | last=Donaldson | first=Thomas | title=Konark | publisher=Oxford University Press | publication-place=New Delhi | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-19-567591-7 | oclc=52861120 |pages=26–28}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Behera | first=Mahendra Narayan | title=Brownstudy on heathenland: A book on Indology | publisher=University Press of America | publication-place=Lanham, MD | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-7618-2652-1 | oclc=53385077|pages=146–147}}</ref>
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 6th Mughal Emperor, destroyed the famous Hindu temples at Varanasi and Mathura, turning back on his ancestor Akbar's policy of religious freedom and establishing Sharia across his empire.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pauwels|first1=Heidi|last2=Bachrach|first2=Emilia|date=2018|title=Aurangzeb as Iconoclast? Vaishnava Accounts of the Krishna images' Exodus from Braj|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/aurangzeb-as-iconoclast-vaishnava-accounts-of-the-krishna-images-exodus-from-braj/E38DFDADE1A61737AC9D24394EF11F4C|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|language=en|volume=28|issue=3|pages=485–508|doi=10.1017/S1356186318000019|s2cid=165273975|issn=1356-1863|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
====Contemporary ====
On December 6, 1992, a large crowd of Hindu karsevaks (volunteers) entirely destroyed the 16th-century Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, in an attempt to reclaim the land known as Ram Janmabhoomi. The demolition occurred after a religious ceremony turned violent and resulted in several months of intercommunal rioting between India's Hindu and Muslim communities, causing the death of at least 2,000 people most of which were Muslims aftr Muslims first burnt the train load of unarmed Hindus.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11436552 | work=BBC News | title=Timeline: Ayodhya holy site crisis | date=2012-12-06}}</ref>
In June 2010, during rioting in Sangli, people threw stones inside a Ganesha mandal.<ref>[http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/sep/060909-Miraj-Sangli-Ganesh-Immersion-Riots-Communal-Violence-News.htm Sangli rages with riots], MiD DAY Infomedia, Date: 2009-09-06.</ref>
The 2010 Deganga riots began on 6 September when mobs resorted to arson and violence over a disputed structure at Deganga, Kartikpur and Beliaghata under the Deganga police station area. The violence began late in the evening and continued throughout the night into the next morning.<ref name="toi1">{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Communal-clash-near-Bangla-border-Army-deployed/articleshow/6516123.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103093628/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-09-08/india/28230267_1_communal-clash-indo-bangla-deganga |url-status=live |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |title=Communal clash near Bangla border, Army deployed |date=September 8, 2010 |access-date=September 11, 2010 |newspaper=The Times of India |location=Kolkata}}</ref><ref name="toi2">{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Army-out-after-Deganga-rioting/articleshow/6516493.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103132107/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-09-08/kolkata/28268373_1_deganga-army-personnel-senior-army-official |url-status=live |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |title=Army out after Deganga rioting |date=September 8, 2010 |access-date=September 11, 2010 |newspaper=The Times of India |location=Kolkata}}</ref><ref name="express1">{{cite news |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Curfew-in-Bengal-district--Army-called-in/678774 |title=Curfew in Bengal district, Army called in |newspaper=Indian Express |date=September 8, 2010 |access-date=September 11, 2010 |location=Kolkata}}</ref><ref name="hindu1">{{cite news |first=Raktima |last=Bose |url=http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/08/stories/2010090859680100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910005112/http://hindu.com/2010/09/08/stories/2010090859680100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 10, 2010 |title=Youth killed in group clash |date=September 8, 2010 |access-date=September 11, 2010 |newspaper=The Hindu |location=Chennai, India}}</ref> The violence finally calmed down on 9 September after hundreds of business establishments and residences were looted, destroyed and burnt, dozens of people were severely injured and several places of worship desecrated and vandalized.
In June 2011 at Asansol Market area, a Hindu temple, under construction led by Bastim Bazaar Sarbojanin Durga Puja Committee was and approved by ADM on 12 April 2011, was attacked by an Islamic mob.<ref name="South Bengal Herald 10062011">{{cite web|last=Samhati|first=Hindu|title=Frenzied Muslims make brutal attacks on Hindus in Asansol to stop temple construction|url=http://southbengalherald.blogspot.com/2011/06/frenzied-muslims-make-brutal-attacks-on.html|work=Hindu Samhati|publisher=South Bengal Herald|access-date=10 June 2011}}</ref>
In April 2021, a Hindu extremist under the influence of the Hindu priest Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati destroyed an idol of Sai Baba at a temple in Delhi incorrectly labeling Sai Baba as a jihadist.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lalwani |first1=Vijayta |title=Labelled 'jihadi', Sai Baba's idol demolished in Delhi. Hindu hardliner exults. Devotees despair. |url=https://scroll.in/article/991155/labelled-jihadi-sai-babas-idol-demolished-in-delhi-hindu-hardliner-exults-devotees-despair |access-date=24 November 2021 |date=4 April 2021}}</ref> The act was condemned by the Hindu and the Muslim community.
===By Christians===
====During Goa inquisitions==== {{main|Portuguese invasion of Goa | Goa Inquisition}}
Diago de Boarda, a priest, and his advisor Vicar General, Miguel Vaz, had made a 41-point plan for torturing Hindus. Under this plan Viceroy Antano de Noronha issued in 1566, an order applicable to the entire area under Portuguese rule:<ref name="vgweb.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.vgweb.org/unethicalconversion/GoaInquisition.htm |title=The Goa Inquisition by Christian Historian Dr. T. R. de Souza |publisher=Vgweb.org |access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref>
<blockquote>I hereby order that in any area owned by my master, the king, nobody should construct a Hindu temple and such temples already constructed should not be repaired without my permission. If this order is transgressed, such temples shall be, destroyed and the goods in them shall be used to meet expenses of holy deeds, as punishment of such transgression.</blockquote>
In 1567 the campaign of destroying temples in Bardez met with success. At the end of it 300 Hindu temples were destroyed. In 1583 Hindu temples at Assolna and Cuncolim were destroyed through army action.<ref name="vgweb.org"/>
<blockquote>The fathers of the Church forbade the Hindus under terrible penalties the use of their own sacred books, and prevented them from all exercise of their religion. They destroyed their temples, and so harassed and interfered with the people that they abandoned the city in large numbers, refusing to remain any longer in a place where they had no liberty, and were liable to imprisonment, torture and death if they worshipped after their own fashion the gods of their fathers</blockquote>,
wrote Filippo Sassetti, who was in India from 1578 to 1588.<ref name="vgweb.org"/>
An order was issued in June 1684 eliminating the Konkani language and making it compulsory to speak Portuguese language. Following that law all the symbols of non-Christian sects were destroyed and the books written in local languages were burnt.<ref name="vgweb.org"/>
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 in Tiswadi (Ilhas de Goa) by 1566. Between 1566 and 1567, a campaign by Franciscan missionaries destroyed another 300 Hindu temples in Bardez (North Goa). In Salcete (South Goa), approximately another 300 Hindu temples were destroyed by the Christian officials of the Inquisition. Numerous Hindu temples were destroyed elsewhere at Assolna and Cuncolim by Portuguese authorities.<ref name="Spicer2016p309">{{cite book|author=Andrew Spicer|title=Parish Churches in the Early Modern World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1CaoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT310|year=2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-91276-1|pages=309–311}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Portuguese in Goa, in Acompanhando a Lusofonia em Goa: Preocupações e experiências pessoais |year = 2016 | author= Teotonio R. De Souza| url=http://recil.grupolusofona.pt/jspui/bitstream/10437/509/1/PortuGoa.pdf | pages=28–30 |publisher= Lisbon: Grupo Lusofona}}</ref> The English traveller Sir Thomas Herbert, 1st Baronet who visited Goa in the 1600s writes: {{blockquote|text=... 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. ...<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Sir Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/b30251576/ |title=Some years travels into divers parts of Africa, and Asia the Great |publisher=London : R. Everingham for R. Scot, etc. |year=1677 |page=40 }}</ref>}}
===Other=== B. R. Ambedkar and his supporters on 25 December 1927 in the Mahad Satyagraha strongly criticised, condemned and then burned copies of ''Manusmriti'' on a pyre in a specially dug pit. ''Manusmriti'', one of the sacred Hindu texts, is the religious basis of casteist laws and values of Hinduism and hence was/is the reason of social and economic plight of millions of untouchables and lower caste Hindus. Ambedkarites continue to observe 25 December as "Manusmriti Dahan Divas" (Manusmriti Burning Day) and burn copies of ''Manusmriti'' on this day.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Singh |first=Neeti |date=2019 |title=Mapping B. R. Ambedkar Within the Matrix of Manu’s Patriarchy, the Mentoring of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad and the Dynamics of Agamben’s Homo Sacer |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2455328X18819900 |journal=Contemporary Voice of Dalit |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=33-43 |doi=10.1177/2455328X18819900}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 30, 2025 |title=Ambedkar–Manusmriti Row Escalates, Savarna Groups Court Arrest In Bhind |url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/bhopal/mp-news-ambedkarmanusmriti-row-escalates-savarna-groups-court-arrest-in-bhind |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260106020702/https://www.freepressjournal.in/bhopal/mp-news-ambedkarmanusmriti-row-escalates-savarna-groups-court-arrest-in-bhind |archive-date=January 6, 2026 |access-date=March 7, 2026 |work=The Free Press Journal}}</ref>
===Contemporary iconoclasm against Hindus in other nations===
====In Bangladesh==== In Bangladesh atrocities<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bhbcuc-usa.org/ |title=Bhbcuc-Usa Home |publisher=Bhbcuc-usa.org |date=2010-08-01 |access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref> including targeted attacks<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hrcbm.org/ |title=Bangladesh – Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities |publisher=HRCBM |access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref> against temples and open theft of Hindu property have increased sharply in recent years after the Jamat-e-Islami joined the coalition government led by the Bangladesh National Party.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Mujtaba| first = Syed Ali| title = Soundings on South Asia| publisher = Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd| year = 2005| page = 100| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AFDVcx-7BCMC&pg=PA100| isbn = 978-1-932705-40-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Gupta| first = Jyoti Bhushan Das| title = Science, technology, imperialism, and war - History of science, philosophy, and culture in Indian civilization. Volume XV. Science, technology, and philosophy; pt. 1| publisher = Pearson Education India| year = 2007| page = 733| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EJuM4FylchwC&pg=PA733| isbn = 978-81-317-0851-4}}</ref> Hindu temples in Bangladesh have also been vandalised.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hinduhumanrights.org/temples/temples.html|title=Hindu temples|access-date=2006-08-26 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060701021512/http://www.hinduhumanrights.org/temples/temples.html |archive-date = 2006-07-01}}</ref>
====In Pakistan==== {{Further|Decline of Hinduism in Pakistan}} Several Hindu temples have been destroyed in Pakistan. A notable incident was the destruction of the Ramna Kali Mandir in former East Pakistan. The temple was bulldozed by the Pakistani Army on March 27, 1971. The Dhakeshwari Temple was severely damaged during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and over half of the temple's buildings were destroyed. In a major disrespect of the religion, the main worship hall was taken over by the Pakistan Army and used as an ammunitions storage area. Several of the temple custodians were tortured and killed by the Army though most, including the head priest, fled first to their ancestral villages and then to India and therefore escaped death.
In 2006 the last Hindu temple in Lahore was destroyed to pave the way for construction of a multi-story commercial building. The temple was demolished after officials of the Evacuee Property Trust Board concealed facts from the board chairman about the nature of the building. When reporters from Pakistan-based newspaper ''Dawn'' tried to cover the incident, they were accosted by the henchmen of the property developer, who denied that a Hindu temple existed at the site.<ref>[http://www.dawn.com/2006/05/28/nat23.htm Another temple is no more], ''Dawn''.</ref>
Several political parties in Pakistan have objected to this move, such as the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistani Muslim League-N.<ref>[http://us.rediff.com/news/2006/jun/13temple.htm Hindu temple in Lahore demolished], Rediff.com.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121014175500/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-06-13/pakistan/27788614_1_hindu-temple-hindus-and-sikhs-eptb Only Hindu Temple in Lahore demolished], Times of India.</ref> The move has also evoked strong condemnation in India from minority bodies and political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress Party, as well as Muslim advocacy political parties such as the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat.<ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1651762.cms India protests demolition of Hindu temple in Pak], ''Times of India''.</ref> A firm of lawyers representing the Hindu minority has approached the Lahore High Court seeking a directive to the builders to stop the construction of the commercial plaza and reconstruct the temple at the site. The petitioners maintain that the demolition violates section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code prohibiting the demolition of places of worship.<ref>[http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/06/16/10047337.html Order for temple's reconstruction sought], Gulf News.</ref>
On June 29, 2005, following the arrest of an illiterate Christian janitor on allegations of allegedly burning Qur'an pages, a mob of between 300 and 500 Muslims destroyed a Hindu temple and houses belonging to Christian and Hindu families in Nowshera. Under the terms of a deal negotiated between Islamic religious leaders and the Hindu/Christian communities, Pakistani police later released all previously arrested perpetrators without charge.<ref name="usdep">{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71443.htm |title=US Department of State International Religious Freedom Report 2006 |publisher=State.gov |access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref>
====In Malaysia==== Between April to May 2006, several Hindu temples were demolished by city hall authorities in the country, accompanied by violence against Hindus.<ref>[http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/52600 Temple row – a dab of sensibility please], ''malaysiakini.com''.</ref> On April 21, 2006, the Malaimel Sri Selva Kaliamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur was reduced to rubble after the city hall sent in bulldozers.<ref>[http://www.gatago.com/talk/politics/mideast/12428067.html Muslims Destroy Century-Old Hindu Temple], gatago.com.</ref> Many Hindu advocacy groups have protested what they allege is a systematic plan of temple cleansing in Malaysia. The official reason given by the Malaysian government has been that the temples were built "illegally". However, several of the temples are centuries old.<ref name="Finexp">[http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=128069 Hindu group protests "temple cleansing" in Malaysia], ''Financial Express''.</ref> On May 11, 2006, armed city hall officers from Kuala Lumpur forcefully demolished part of a 60-year-old suburban temple that serves more than 1,000 Hindus.<ref name="Finexp"/>
====In Saudi Arabia====
On March 24, 2005, Saudi authorities destroyed religious items found in a raid on a makeshift Hindu shrine found in an apartment in Riyadh.<ref>Marshall, Paul. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060522223359/http://www.freedomhouse.org/religion/news/bn2005/bn-2005-00-16.htm Saudi Arabia's Religious Police Crack Down]''. Freedom House.</ref>
====In Fiji====
In Fiji according to official reports, attacks on Hindu institutions increased by 14% compared to 2004. This intolerance of Hindus has found expression in anti-Hindu speeches and destruction of temples, the two most common forms of immediate and direct violence against Hindus. Between 2001 and April 2005, one hundred cases of temple attacks have been registered with the police. The alarming increase of temple destruction has spread fear and intimidation among the Hindu minorities and has hastened immigration to neighboring Australia and New Zealand. Organized religious institutions, such as the Methodist Church of Fiji, have repeatedly called for the creation of a theocratic Christian State and have propagated anti-Hindu sentiment.<ref name="Hindusin">{{cite web|url=http://www.hafsite.org/pdf/hhr_2005_html/fijiislands.htm |title=Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A Survey of Human Rights 2005 |publisher=Hafsite.org |access-date=2013-04-30}}</ref> State favoritism of Christianity, and systematic attacks on temples, are some of the greatest threats faced by Fijian Hindus. Despite the creation of a human rights commission, the plight of Hindus in Fiji continues to be precarious.<ref name="Hindusin" /> Perhaps the most notorious episode of iconoclasm in India was Mahmud of Ghazni's attack on the Somnath Temple from across the Thar Desert.<ref name="gujaratindia.com">{{cite web|title=Gujarat State Portal | All About Gujarat | Gujarat Tourism | Religious Places | Somnath Temple|url=http://www.gujaratindia.com/about-gujarat/somnath.htm|access-date=2013-04-30|publisher=Gujaratindia.com|archive-date=2014-01-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140128140411/http://www.gujaratindia.com/about-gujarat/somnath.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnBMFaGMabYC|title=Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History|first=Romila|last=Thapar|year= 2005|publisher=Verso|isbn=978-1844670208|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=":2">Yagnik, Achyut, and Suchitra Sheth. 2005. ''Shaping of Modern Gujarat''. Penguin UK. {{ISBN|8184751850}}.</ref> In 1026 during the reign of Bhima I, the prominent Turkic-Muslim ruler Mahmud of Ghazni raided Gujarat, plundering the Somnath Temple and breaking its jyotirlinga despite pleas by Brahmins not to break it. He took away a booty of 20 million dinars.<ref name=":3">Thapar, Romila. 2004. ''Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History''. Penguin Books India. {{ISBN|1-84467-020-1}}.</ref><ref name=":2" />{{Rp|39}} The attack may have been inspired by the belief that an idol of the goddess Manat had been secretly transferred to the temple.<ref>Akbar, M. J. 2003. ''The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity''. Roli Books. {{ISBN|978-9351940944}}.</ref> According to the Ghaznavid court-poet Farrukhi Sistani, who claimed to have accompanied Mahmud on his raid, ''Somnat'' (as rendered in Persian) was a garbled version of ''su-manat'' referring to the goddess Manat. According to him, as well as a later Ghaznavid historian Abu Sa'id Gardezi, the images of the other goddesses were destroyed in Arabia but the one of Manat was secretly sent away to Kathiawar (in modern Gujarat) for safekeeping. Since the idol of Manat was an aniconic image of black stone, it could have been easily confused with a lingam 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 the Caliphate, Mahmud exaggerated the size, wealth and religious significance of the Somnath temple, receiving grandiose titles from the Caliph in return.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|45–51}}
The wooden structure was replaced by Kumarapala (r. 1143–72), who rebuilt the temple out of stone.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/t/019pho0001000s7u00790000.html Somnath Temple] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924015054/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/t/019pho0001000s7u00790000.html |date=2015-09-24 }}, British Library.</ref>
==Iconoclasm in East Asia==
=== China === {{further|Four Buddhist Persecutions in China|Anti-Western sentiment in China}} There have been a number of anti-Buddhist campaigns in Chinese history that led to the destruction of Buddhist temples and images. One of the most notable of these campaigns was the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution of the Tang dynasty.
During and after the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, there was widespread destruction of religious and secular images in China.
During the Northern Expedition in Guangxi in 1926, Kuomintang General Bai Chongxi led his troops in destroying Buddhist temples and smashing Buddhist images, turning the temples into schools and Kuomintang party headquarters.<ref>{{cite book|first=Diana|last=Lary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCA9AAAAIAAJ&q=muslim|title=Region and nation: the Kwangsi clique in Chinese politics, 1925–1937|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1974|isbn=978-0-521-20204-6|page=98|access-date=2010-06-28}}</ref> It was reported that almost all of the viharas in Guangxi were destroyed and the monks were removed.<ref>{{cite book|author=Don Alvin Pittman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LxDUeWdMubkC&q=bai+chongxi+buddhist+temples&pg=PA146|title=Toward a modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu's reforms|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8248-2231-6|page=146|access-date=2010-06-28}}</ref> Bai also led a wave of anti-foreignism in Guangxi, attacking Americans, Europeans, and other foreigners, and generally making the province unsafe for foreigners and missionaries. Westerners fled from the province and some Chinese Christians were also attacked as imperialist agents.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book|first=Diana|last=Lary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCA9AAAAIAAJ&q=muslim|title=Region and nation: the Kwangsi clique in Chinese politics, 1925–1937|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1974|isbn=978-0-521-20204-6|page=99|access-date=2010-06-28}}</ref> The three goals of the movement were anti-foreignism, anti-imperialism and anti-religion. Bai led the anti-religious movement against superstition. Huang Shaohong, also a Kuomintang member of the New Guangxi clique, supported Bai's campaign. The anti-religious campaign was agreed upon by all Guangxi Kuomintang members.<ref name="auto1"/>
There was extensive destruction of religious and secular imagery in Tibet after it was invaded and occupied by China.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Karan|first=P. P.|title=The Changing World Religion Map|date=2015|publisher=Springer, Dordrecht|isbn=978-9401793759|pages=461–476|language=en|chapter=Suppression of Tibetan Religious Heritage|doi=10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_23}}</ref>
Many religious and secular images were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of 1966–1976, ostensibly because they were a holdover from China's traditional past (which the Communist regime led by Mao 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.
=== South Korea === According to an article in ''Buddhist-Christian Studies'':<ref>Wells, Harry L. 2000. "Korean Temple Burnings and Vandalism: The Response of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies". ''Buddhist-Christian Studies'' 20:239–240. {{doi|10.1353/bcs.2000.0035}}.</ref><blockquote>Over the course of the last decade [1990s] a fairly large number of Buddhist temples in South Korea have been destroyed or damaged by fire by Christian 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.</blockquote>
=== Angkor === {{Further|Angkor}} Beginning {{circa|1243 AD}} with the death of Indravarman II, the Khmer Empire went through a period of iconoclasm. At the beginning of the reign of the next king, Jayavarman VIII, the kingdom went back to Hinduism and the worship of Shiva. 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 as Preah Khan were destroyed, and during this period the Bayon Temple was made a temple to Shiva, with the central {{convert|3.6|m|ft|adj=mid|-tall|sp=us}} statue of the Buddha cast to the bottom of a nearby well.<ref>Higham, ''The Civilization of Angkor'', p. 133.</ref>
== Political iconoclasm ==
===''Damnatio memoriae''=== {{main|Damnatio memoriae}} 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 as ''damnatio 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.<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, “iconoclasm (n.),” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7159954447.</ref>{{Citation needed|date=August 2021|reason=Which definitions?}} In many cases, such as Revolutionary Russia or Ancient Egypt, this distinction can be hard to make.
Among Roman emperors and other political figures subject to decrees of ''damnatio memoriae'' were Sejanus, Publius Septimius Geta, and Domitian. Several Emperors, such as Domitian and Commodus had during their reigns erected numerous statues of themselves, which were pulled down and destroyed when they were overthrown.
The perception of ''damnatio 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 to ''dishonor'' the record of the person and so, in an oblique way, to confirm memory",<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hedrick|first=Charles W.|title=History and Silence: Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2000|pages=88–130}}</ref> and was in effect a spectacular display of "pantomime forgetfulness".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stewart|first=Peter|title=Statues in Roman Society: Representation and Response|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|pages=279–283}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beiner|first=Guy|title=Remembering the Year of the French: Irish Folk History and Social Memory|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2007|page=305}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Beiner|first=Guy|title=Forgetful Remembrance: Social Forgetting and Vernacular Historiography of a Rebellion in Ulster|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2018|pages=369–384}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Beiner |first1=Guy |title=When Monuments Fall: The Significance of Decommemorating |journal=Éire-Ireland |volume=56 |issue=1|year=2021|pages=33–61|doi=10.1353/eir.2021.0001 |s2cid=240526743 }}</ref>
===During the French Revolution=== {{Main|Iconoclasm during the French Revolution}} Throughout the radical phase of the French 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 the Old Regime. A statue of King Louis XV in the Paris square which until then bore his name, was pulled down and destroyed. This was a prelude to the guillotining of his successor Louis XVI in the same site, renamed "Place de la Révolution" (at present Place de la Concorde).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Idzerda|first=Stanley J.|year=1954|title=Iconoclasm during the French Revolution|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=60/1|issue=1|pages=13–26|doi=10.2307/1842743|jstor=1842743}}</ref> Later that year, the bodies of many French kings were exhumed from the Basilica of Saint-Denis and dumped in a mass grave.<ref name=lindsay>{{cite web|last1=Lindsay|first1=Suzanne Glover|title=The Revolutionary Exhumations at St-Denis, 1793|url=http://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/essays/revolutionary-exhumations-st-denis-1793|website=Center for the Study of Material & Visual Cultures of Religion|date=18 October 2014|publisher=Yale University}}</ref>
Some episodes of iconoclasm were carried out spontaneously by crowds of citizens, including the destruction of statues of kings during the insurrection of 10 August 1792 in Paris.<ref name=":34">{{Cite journal|last=Thompson|first=Victoria E.|date=Fall–Winter 2012|title=The Creation, Destruction and Recreation of Henri IV: Seeing Popular Sovereignty in the Statue of a King|journal=History and Memory|volume=24|issue=2|pages=5–40|jstor=10.2979/histmemo.24.2.5|doi=10.2979/histmemo.24.2.5|s2cid=159942339}}</ref> Some were directly sanctioned by the Republican government, including the Saint-Denis exhumations.<ref name=lindsay/> Nonetheless, the Republican government also took steps to preserve historic artworks,<ref>{{Cite book |title=From Royal to National: The Louvre Museum and the Bibliothèque Nationale |first=Bette Wyn |last=Oliver |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7391-1861-0 |pages=21–22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOXAtXKvXn0C&q=the+louvre+opening+1793 |oclc=70883061}}</ref> notably by founding the Louvre 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.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Foucault | first=Michel | translator-last=Miskowiec | translator-first=Jay | title=Of Other Spaces | journal=Diacritics | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | volume=16 | issue=1 | year=1986 | issn=0300-7162 | doi=10.2307/464648 | jstor=464648 | pages=22–27 |url=https://foucault.info/documents/heterotopia/foucault.heteroTopia.en/| url-access=subscription }} Translated from {{cite journal | last=Foucault | first=Michel |author-mask=0 |date=October 1984 |title=Des Espace Autres |journal=Architecture, Mouvement, Continuité |number=5 |pages=46–49 |language=fr}} Alternate translation available in {{cite book | last=Foucault | first=Michel |author-mask=0 |chapter=Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias |chapter-url=http://www.vizkult.org/propositions/alineinnature/pdfs/Foucault-OfOtherSpaces1967.pdf |pages=330–336 |editor-last=Leach | editor-first=Neil | title=Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory | publisher=Routledge | year=1997 | isbn=978-0-415-12826-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5Q56G7opmcC&pg=PA330}}</ref><ref>Stanley J. Idzerda, "Iconoclasm during the French Revolution". In The American Historical Review, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Oct., 1954), p. 25.</ref><ref>Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1987): 212–213.</ref> Alexandre Lenoir saved many royal monuments by diverting them to preservation in a museum.<ref>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.</ref>
The statue of Napoleon on the column at Place Vendôme, Paris was also the target of iconoclasm several times: destroyed after the Bourbon Restoration, restored by Louis-Philippe, destroyed during the Paris Commune and restored by Adolphe Thiers.
After Napoleon conquered the Italian city of Pavia, local Pavia Jacobins destroyed the Regisole, 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 === [[File:St Helen Gate.jpg|thumb|St. Helen's Gate in Cospicua, Malta, which had its marble coat of arms defaced during the French occupation of Malta]] [[File:King William Statue 1.jpg|thumb|Statue of William of Orange formerly located on College Green, in Dublin. Erected in 1701, it was destroyed in 1929—one of several memorials installed during British rule which were destroyed after Ireland became independent.]] Other examples of political destruction of images include: * There have been several cases of removing symbols of past rulers in Malta's history. Many Hospitaller coats of arms on buildings were defaced during the French occupation of Malta in 1798–1800; a few of these were subsequently replaced by British coats of arms in the early 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ellul|first=Michael|date=1982|title=Art and Architecture in Malta in the Early Nineteenth Century|url=http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Proceedings%20of%20History%20Week/PHW%201982/01s.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011202615/http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Proceedings%20of%20History%20Week/PHW%201982/01s.pdf|archive-date=11 October 2016|publisher=Melitensia Historica|url-status=usurped|pages=4–5}}</ref> Some British symbols were also removed by the government after Malta became a republic in 1974. These include royal cyphers being ground off from post boxes,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Westcott|first1=Kathryn|date=18 January 2013|title=Letter boxes: The red heart of the British streetscape|work=BBC|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21057160|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126134728/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21057160|archive-date=26 November 2016}}</ref> and British coats of arms such as that on the Main Guard building being temporarily obscured (but not destroyed).<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bonello|first1=Giovanni|date=14 January 2018|title=Mysteries of the Main Guard inscription|work=Times of Malta|url=https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20180114/life-features/mysteries-of-the-main-guard-inscription.667957|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114164017/https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20180114/life-features/mysteries-of-the-main-guard-inscription.667957|archive-date=14 January 2018}}</ref> * With the entry of the Ottoman Empire to the First World War, the Ottoman Army destroyed the Russian victory monument erected in San Stefano (the modern Yeşilköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey) to commemorate the Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The demolition was filmed by former army officer Fuat Uzkınay, producing ''Ayastefanos'taki Rus Abidesinin Yıkılışı''—the oldest known Turkish-made film. * In the late 18th century, French revolutionaries known as the ''sans-culottes'' sacked Brussels' Grand-Place, destroying statues of nobility and symbols of Christianity.{{sfn|Mardaga|1993|p=121}}{{sfn|Hennaut|2000|p=34–36}} In the 19th century, the place was renovated and many new statues added. In 1911, a marble commemoration for the Spanish freethinker and educator Francisco 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. The Imperial German military, which occupied 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.<ref>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. {{ISBN|978-0-691-04669-3}}. {{OCLC|489692159}}, p. 33.</ref> * In 1942, the collaborationist Vichy Government of France took down and melted Clothilde Roch's statue of the 16th-century dissident intellectual Michael Servetus, who had been burned at the stake in Geneva at the instigation of Calvin. The Vichy authorities disliked the statue, as it was a celebration of freedom of conscience. In 1960, having found the original molds, the municipality of Annemasse had it recast and returned the statue to its previous place.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Goldstone, Nancy Bazelon|title=Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World|author2=Goldstone, Lawrence|publisher=Broadway|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7679-0837-5|location=New York|pages= 313–316}}</ref> * A sculpture of the head of Spanish intellectual Miguel de Unamuno by Victorio Macho was installed in the City Hall of Bilbao, Spain. It was withdrawn in 1936 when Unamuno showed temporary support for the Nationalist side. During the Spanish Civil War, it was thrown into the 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 of {{lang|eu|Euskal Herritarrok}}. It was substituted by a copy in 2000 after the original was located in the water.<ref name="Uriona">{{cite news |last1=Uriona |first1=Alberto |title=El Ayuntamiento de Bilbao restituye a su columna el busto de Unamuno nueve meses después de su robo |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2000/03/07/paisvasco/952461620_850215.html |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=El País |date=6 March 2000 |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Camacho |first1=Isabel |title=La cabeza perdida de don Miguel |url=https://elpais.com/diario/1999/06/10/paisvasco/929043617_850215.html |access-date=14 November 2022 |work=El País |date=9 June 1999 |language=es}}</ref><ref name="Toledo">{{cite web |title=Victorio Macho y Unamuno: notas para un centenario |url=https://www.realfundaciontoledo.es/gestion/img/noticias/Victorio%20Macho%20y%20Unamuno..pdf |publisher=Real Fundación Toledo |access-date=14 November 2022 |language=es }}</ref> * The Battle of Baghdad and the regime of Saddam Hussein symbolically ended with the Firdos 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.<ref>Göttke, Florian. ''Toppled''. Rotterdam: Post Editions, 2010.</ref> [[File:SaddamStatue.jpg|thumb|United States Marines destroy a statue of Saddam Hussein on Firdos Square, in Baghdad, Iraq, 9 April 2003.]] * In 2016, paintings from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, were burned in student protests as symbols of colonialism.<ref>{{cite news|last=Meintjies|first=Ilze-Marie|date=16 February 2016|title=Protesting UCT Students Burn Historic Paintings, Refuse To Leave|publisher=Eyewitness News|url=http://ewn.co.za/2016/02/16/Chaos-erupts-at-UCT}}</ref> * In November 2019, a statue of Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović in Malmö, Sweden, was vandalized by Malmö FF supporters after he announced he had become part-owner of Swedish rivals Hammarby. White paint was sprayed on it; threats and hateful messages towards Zlatan were written on the statue, and it was burned.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news|date=12 December 2019|title=Zlatan Ibrahimovic statue: Vandals try to saw through feet|work=BBC Sport|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/50756061|access-date=23 December 2019|via=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Daniels|first=Tim|title=Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Malmo Statue Set on Fire After Becoming Hammarby Part Owner|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2864555-zlatan-ibrahimovics-malmo-statue-set-on-fire-after-becoming-hammarby-part-owner|access-date=23 December 2019|website=Bleacher Report}}</ref> In a second attack the nose was sawed off and the statue was sprinkled with chrome paint.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Erberth|first=Nellie|date=December 22, 2019|title=Zlatans staty vandaliserad igen – näsan avsågad|newspaper=SVT Nyheter|url=https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/zlatans-staty-vandaliserad-igen-nasan-avsagad|via=www.svt.se}}</ref> On 5 January 2020 it was finally toppled.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Wikén|first1=Johan|last2=Erberth|first2=Nellie|date=January 5, 2020|title=Zlatanstatyn vandaliserad igen – avsågad vid fötterna|newspaper=SVT Nyheter|url=https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/zlatanstatyn-vandaliserad-igen|via=www.svt.se}}</ref> * On 7 June 2020, during the George Floyd protests,<ref name="cbs_07062020">{{cite news |title=Protesters in England topple statue of slave trader Edward Colston into harbor |date=7 June 2020 |work=CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-floyd-protest-edward-colston-statue-thrown-into-bristol-harbor-today-2020-06-07/ |access-date=8 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608061324/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-floyd-protest-edward-colston-statue-thrown-into-bristol-harbor-today-2020-06-07/ |archive-date=8 June 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> a statue of merchant and trans-Atlantic slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, UK, was pulled down by demonstrators who then jumped on it.<ref name="theguardiansiddique" /> They daubed it in red and blue paint, and one protester placed his knee on the statue's neck to allude to Floyd's murder by a white policeman who knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes.<ref name="cbs_07062020" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Zaks|first=Dmitry|title=UK slave trader's statue toppled in anti-racism protests|date=8 June 2020|newspaper=The Jakarta Post|agency=Agence France-Presse|url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/06/08/uk-slave-traders-statue-toppled-in-anti-racism-protests.html|access-date=8 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608065814/https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/06/08/uk-slave-traders-statue-toppled-in-anti-racism-protests.html|archive-date=8 June 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The statue was then rolled down Anchor Road and pushed into Bristol Harbour.<ref name="theguardiansiddique">{{cite news |first1=Haroon |last1=Siddique |access-date=7 June 2020 |title=BLM protesters topple statue of Bristol slave trader Edward Colston |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/07/blm-protesters-topple-statue-of-bristol-slave-trader-edward-colston |work=The Guardian |date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607160825/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/07/blm-protesters-topple-statue-of-bristol-slave-trader-edward-colston |archive-date=7 June 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bbc52954305">{{cite news |title=George Floyd death: Protesters tear down slave trader statue |date=7 June 2020 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52954305 |work=BBC News |access-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607110402/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52954305 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="sullivanindependent">{{Cite news|last=Sullivan|first=Rory|date=7 June 2020|title=Black Lives Matter protesters pull down statue of 17th century UK slave trader|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/black-lives-matter-protests-uk-bristol-statue-edward-colston-slavery-a9553266.html|access-date=7 June 2020 |work=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607141249/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/black-lives-matter-protests-uk-bristol-statue-edward-colston-slavery-a9553266.html|archive-date=7 June 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>
===In the Soviet Union=== [[File:Christ saviour explosion.jpg|thumb|Demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, in Moscow, Russia, 5 December 1931]] During and after the October Revolution, widespread destruction of religious and secular imagery in Russia took place, as well as the destruction of imagery related to the Imperial family. The Revolution was accompanied by destruction of monuments of tsars, as well as the destruction of imperial eagles at various locations throughout Russia. According to Christopher Wharton:<ref>Christopher Wharton, [http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=2514&detail=4475&content=4797 "The Hammer and Sickle: The Role of Symbolism and Rituals in the Russian Revolution"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528035402/http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=2514&detail=4475&content=4797|date=2010-05-28}}</ref><blockquote>In front of a Moscow Cathedral, crowds cheered as the enormous statue of Tsar Alexander 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.</blockquote>The Soviet Union actively destroyed religious sites, including Russian Orthodox churches and Jewish cemeteries, in order to discourage religious practice and curb the activities of religious groups.
During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and during the Revolutions of 1989, protesters often attacked and took down sculptures and images of Joseph Stalin, such as the Stalin Monument in Budapest.<ref>{{cite news|last=Auyezov|first=Olzhas|title=Ukraine says blowing up Stalin statue was terrorism|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-stalin-idUSTRE7043D920110105|work=Reuters|access-date=9 April 2011|date=January 5, 2011}}</ref>
The fall of Communism in 1989–1991 was also followed by the destruction or removal of statues of Vladimir Lenin and other Communist leaders in the former Soviet Union and in other Eastern Bloc countries. Particularly well-known was the destruction of "Iron Felix", the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky outside the KGB's headquarters. Another statue of Dzerzhinsky was destroyed in a Warsaw square that was named after him during communist rule, but which is now called Bank Square.
=== In the United States === [[File:Johannes Adam Simon Oertel Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C. ca. 1859.jpg|thumb|The Sons of Liberty pulling down the statue of George III of the United Kingdom on Bowling Green (New York City), 1776]]During the American Revolution, the Sons of Liberty pulled down and destroyed the gilded lead statue of George III of the United Kingdom on Bowling Green (New York City), melting it down to be recast as ammunition.<ref>[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/666015 The Destruction of the Royal Statue at New York on July 9, 1776]</ref><ref>[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-toppled-statue-of-george-iii-epitomizes-the-ongoing-debate-over-americas-monuments-180979463/ A Toppled Statue of George III Illuminates the Ongoing Debate Over America’s Monuments]</ref><ref>[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/pulling-down-statues-tradition-dates-back-united-states-independence Pulling down statues? It’s a tradition that dates back to U.S. independence]</ref> Sometimes relatively intact monuments are moved to a collected display in a less prominent place, as in India and also post-Communist countries.
In August 2017, a statue of a Confederate soldier dedicated to "the boys who wore the gray" was pulled down from its pedestal in front of Durham County Courthouse in North Carolina by protesters. This followed the events at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in response to growing calls to remove Confederate monuments and memorials across the U.S.<ref>{{Cite news|title=SEE IT: Crowd pulls down Confederate statue in North Carolina|language=en|work=NY Daily News|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/crowd-pulls-confederate-statue-north-carolina-article-1.3411619|access-date=2017-08-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Holland|first=Jesse J.|title=Deadly rally accelerates ongoing removal of Confederate statues across U.S.|language=en-US|work=Chicago Tribune|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-confederate-statue-removal-20170815-story.html|access-date=2017-08-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=War over Confederate statues reveals simple thinking on all sides|language=en|work=NY Daily News|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/monumental-ignorance-article-1.3424004|access-date=2017-08-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first=Amanda|last=Jackson|title=Protesters pull down Confederate statue in North Carolina|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/14/us/confederate-statue-pulled-down-north-carolina-trnd/index.html|access-date=2017-08-15|website=CNN|date=15 August 2017}}</ref>
==== 2020 demonstrations ==== {{main|List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests}} During the George Floyd protests of 2020, demonstrators pulled down dozens of statues which they considered symbols of the Confederacy, slavery, segregation, or racism, including the statue of Williams Carter Wickham in Richmond, Virginia.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fultz|first=Matthew|date=7 June 2020|title=Crew heard cheers as Confederate general's statue toppled in Monroe Park|work=WTVR|url=https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/crew-heard-cheers-as-confederate-generals-statue-toppled-in-monroe-park}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Taylor|first=Alan|title=Photos: The Statues Brought Down Since the George Floyd Protests Began |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/07/photos-statues-removed-george-floyd-protests-began/613774/|access-date=2020-07-29|magazine=The Atlantic}}</ref>
Further demonstrations in the wake of the George Floyd protests have resulted in the removal of:<ref>{{Cite news|first1=Alisha |last1=Ebrahimji|first2=Artemis |last2=Moshtaghian|title=These confederate statues have been removed since George Floyd's death |work=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/09/us/confederate-statues-removed-george-floyd-trnd/index.html|access-date=2020-06-11}}</ref> * the John Breckenridge Castleman monument in Louisville, Kentucky; * plaques in Jacksonville, Florida's Hemming Park (renamed in 1899 in honor of Civil War veteran Charles C. Hemming), which were in remembrance of deceased Confederate soldiers; * the monumental obelisk of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument and a statue of Charles Linn in Linn Park, Birmingham, Alabama; * a statue of Junípero Serra in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco;<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-21|title=San Francisco Archbishop Outraged Over Toppling Of Golden Gate Park Junipero Serra Statue|url=https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/21/juneteenth-archbishop-critical-of-toppling-of-golden-gate-park-junipero-serra-statue/|access-date=2020-07-29|language=en-US}}</ref> * a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Montgomery, Alabama; * the monument to Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia;<ref name="Schneider-Vozzella-2021">{{cite news | last1=Schneider | first1=Gregory S. | last2=Vozzella | first2=Laura | title=Robert E. Lee statue is removed in Richmond, ex-capital of Confederacy, after months of protests and legal resistance | newspaper=Washington Post | date=2021-09-08 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/robert-e-lee-statue-removal/2021/09/08/1d9564ee-103d-11ec-9cb6-bf9351a25799_story.html | access-date=2021-09-08}}</ref> * the Appomattox statue in Alexandria, Virginia, leaving the monument's base empty but intact.
Multiple statues of early European explorers and founders were also vandalized, including those of Christopher Columbus, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.<ref name="Asmelash">{{cite web|first=Leah |last=Asmelash |title=Statues of Christopher Columbus are being dismounted across the country|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/us/christopher-columbus-statues-down-trnd/index.html|access-date=2020-06-11|work=CNN|date=10 June 2020 }}</ref><ref name="DWilliams">{{cite web|first=David |last=Williams |title=Protesters tore down a George Washington statue and set a fire on its head|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/19/us/portland-george-washington-statue-toppled-trnd/index.html|work=CNN|date=19 June 2020 |access-date=2022-03-20}}</ref> * Christopher Columbus was removed in Virginia, Minnesota, Chicago and beheaded in Boston MA.<ref name="Asmelash"/> * George Washington statue was toppled in Portland, Oregon.<ref name="DWilliams"/>
==See also== * Aniconism * Art in the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation * Censorship by religion * Cult image * Cultural Revolution * De-commemoration * Icon * Iconolatry * List of destroyed heritage * Lost artworks * Natural theology * Slighting * Council of Constantinople (843)
==Notes== {{notelist}} {{Reflist|group=lower-roman}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal | last=Alloa | first=Emmanuel | title=Visual Studies in Byzantium: A Pictorial Turnavant la lettre | journal=Journal of Visual Culture | publisher=Sage| volume=12 | issue=1 | year=2013 | issn=1470-4129 | doi=10.1177/1470412912468704 | pages=3–29| s2cid=191395643 }} (On the conceptual background of Byzantine iconoclasm) * {{cite book | last=Aston | first=Margaret |author-link=Margaret Aston | title=England's Iconoclasts: Laws against images | publisher=Clarendon Press | volume=1 | year=1988 | isbn=978-0-19-822438-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uo7YAAAAMAAJ}} * —— 2016. ''Broken Idols of the English Reformation''. Cambridge University Press. * {{cite journal | last=Balafrej | first=Lamia | title=Islamic iconoclasm, visual communication and the persistence of the image | journal=Interiors | publisher=Informa UK | volume=6 | issue=3 | date=2 September 2015 | issn=2041-9112 | doi=10.1080/20419112.2015.1125659 | pages=351–366| s2cid=131284640 }} * Barasch, Moshe. 1992. ''Icon: Studies in the History of an Idea''. New York University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8147-1172-9}}. * {{cite journal |last1=Beiner |first1=Guy |title=When Monuments Fall: The Significance of Decommemorating |journal=Éire-Ireland |date=2021 |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=33–61|doi=10.1353/eir.2021.0001 |s2cid=240526743 }} * Besançon, Alain. 2000. ''The Forbidden Image: An Intellectual History of Iconoclasm''. University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|978-0-226-04414-9}}. * Bevan, Robert. 2006. ''The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War''. Reaktion Books. {{ISBN|978-1-86189-319-2}}. * 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. {{ISBN|978-1978401099}}. * Freedberg, David. 1977. "[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/arthistory/faculty/Freedberg/Structure-byzantine-european-iconoclasm.pdf The Structure of Byzantine and European Iconoclasm]". Pp. 165–77 in ''Iconoclasm: Papers Given at the Ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies'', edited by A. Bryer and J. Herrin. University of Birmingham, Centre for Byzantine Studies. {{ISBN|978-0-7044-0226-3}}. * —— [1985] 1993. "[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/arthistory/faculty/Freedberg/iconoclasts-and-their-motives.pdf Iconoclasts and their Motives]", (Second Horst Gerson Memorial Lecture, University of Groningen). ''Public'' 8(Fall). ** Original print: Maarssen: Gary Schwartz. 1985. {{ISBN|978-90-6179-056-3}}. * {{Cite book|last=Gamboni |first=Dario |title=The Destruction of Art: Iconoclasm and Vandalism since the French Revolution |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-86189-316-1}} * {{cite journal | last1 = Gwynn | first1 = David M | year = 2007 | title = From Iconoclasm to Arianism: The Construction of Christian Tradition in the Iconoclast Controversy | url = http://www.duke.edu/web/classics/grbs/FTexts/47/Gwynn.pdf | journal = Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies | volume = 47 | pages = 225–251 | access-date = 2012-08-06 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120916165304/http://www.duke.edu/web/classics/grbs/FTexts/47/Gwynn.pdf | archive-date = 2012-09-16 | url-status = dead }} * {{cite book|last=Hennaut|first=Eric|title=La Grand-Place de Bruxelles|series=Bruxelles, ville d'Art et d'Histoire|volume=3|location=Brussels|language=fr|publisher=Éditions de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale|year=2000|url=http://patrimoine.brussels/liens/publications-numeriques/versions-pdf/bvah/la-grand-place-de-bruxelles}} * {{Cite book|last=Ivanovic |first=Filip |title=Symbol and Icon: Dionysius the Areopagite and the Iconoclastic Crisis |publisher=Pickwick |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-60899-335-2}} * {{cite book |last=Karahan |first=Anne |chapter=Byzantine Iconoclasm: Ideology and Quest for Power |pages=75–94 |editor-last=Kolrud | editor-first=Kristine |editor-last2=Prusac |editor-first2=M. | title=Iconoclasm from antiquity to modernity | publisher=Ashgate | publication-place=Burlington, VT | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-4094-7033-5 | oclc=841051222}} * {{Cite book |last=Lambourne |first=Nicola |title=War Damage in Western Europe: The Destruction of Historic Monuments During the Second World War |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7486-1285-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/wardamageinweste0000lamb }} * {{cite book |last=Narain |first=Harsh |year=1993 |title=The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources |location=Delhi |publisher=Penman Publishers }} * Shourie, Arun, Sita Ram Goel, Harsh Narain, Jay Dubashi, and Ram Swarup. 1990. ''Hindu Temples – What Happened to Them Vol. I, (A Preliminary Survey)''. {{ISBN|81-85990-49-2}} * {{cite journal | last=Spicer | first=Andrew | title=Iconoclasm | journal=Renaissance Quarterly | publisher=Cambridge University Press | volume=70 | issue=3 | year=2017 | issn=0034-4338 | doi=10.1086/693887 | pages=1007–1022| s2cid=233344068 }} * Topper, David R. ''Idolatry & Infinity: Of Art, Math & God''. BrownWalker. {{ISBN|978-1-62734-506-4}}. * {{cite book | last=Velikov | first=Yuliyan | title=Obrazŭt na Nevidimii︠a︡ : ikonopochitanieto i ikonootrit︠s︡anieto prez osmi vek |trans-title=Image of the Invisible. Image Veneration and Iconoclasm in the Eighth Century | publisher=Veliko Tarnovo University | publication-place=Veliko Tarnovo | year=2011 | isbn=978-954-524-779-8 | oclc=823743049 | language=bg}} * [http://www.vgweb.org/unethicalconversion/port_rep.htm Weeraratna, Senaka ' Repression of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese' (1505–1658)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309101446/http://www.vgweb.org/unethicalconversion/port_rep.htm |date=2021-03-09 }} * Teodoro Studita, Contro gli avversari delle icone, Emanuela Fogliadini (Prefazione), Antonio Calisi (Traduttore), Jaca Book, 2022, {{ISBN|978-8816417557}} * {{cite book|ref={{harvid|Mardaga|1993}}|title=Le Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique: Bruxelles|volume=1B: Pentagone E-M|location=Liège|language=fr|publisher=Pierre Mardaga|year=1993|url=https://monument.heritage.brussels/files/cities/1000/documents/02-vol-b-fr-def_k.pdf}}
==External links== {{Wiktionary|iconoclasm|iconoclast}} {{Commons category}} {{Wikiquote}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070809013224/http://www.holycross.edu/departments/visarts/projects/kempe/devotion/iconoclasm.html Iconoclasm in England], Holy Cross College (UK) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20091108031137/http://bostonist.com/2009/04/05/design_as_social_agent_at_the_ica_t.php Design as Social Agent at the ICA] by Kerry Skemp, April 5, 2009
{{Destroyed heritage}} {{Heresies condemned by the Catholic Church}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Iconoclasm Category:Byzantine Iconoclasm Category:Protestant Reformation Category:Religious persecution Category:Christian terminology