http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning

Destruction of Chinese cultures and traditional valuesMao Zedong called for the Four Olds to be swept away at the very early stages of the Cultural Revolution in 1966,[2] and Red Guards took up the task with alacrity. As a result, examples of Chinese architecture were destroyed, classical literature and Chinese paintings were torn apart, and cultural and religious customs were vilified as manifestations of feudalism. Many families' long-kept genealogy books were burned to ashes. During that time, many ancient Chinese cultural artifacts were destroyed forever. People in possession of these items were punished.Intellectuals were targeted as personifications of the Four Olds, and sometimes they were purged, which included being mocked, harassed, imprisoned, tortured, or killed.[3]

Upon learning that Red Guards were approaching the Forbidden City, Premier Zhou Enlai ordered the gates shut and troops posted, knowing of the Red Guard's reputation for destroying cultural objects.Popular sl

The Library of Alexandria

The first known library to attempt to collect all books the Library’s aim was charged to store all the world's knowledge.

Difficult to know exactly what happened but it seems to have been destroyed wholly or partly on four occasions:

1. Accidentally by Julius Caesar 48 BC2. By the Emperor Aurelian 270-275 AD3. A Coptic Christian mob by decree of a Coptic

Pope AD 3914. Muslim Conquest >642 AD

AlexandriaNandaporCteciphonGenghis KahnNazisMayas

CteciphonIn the 7th Century the Arab commander Saad ibn-e Abi Vaghas captured Cteciphon (the capital of Persia ) and asked Khalif Omar - the Ruler of Arab Muslims - what he should do with the books in the huge Persian library…

Omar replied that the “blasphemous” books are not needed, as for us the Khoran is sufficient.

Thus, the huge library was destroyed and the books which stored the knowledge of the generations of Persian scholars were burned in fire or thrown into the Euphrates.

Later by the order of another Arab ruler (Ghotaibeh ibn-e Moslem) in Khwarezmia, those Persians who were literate with all the historians, writers and Mobeds were massacred and their books burned so that after one generation the people were illiterate.

Other libraries in Ray and Khorassan received the same treatment and the famous international University of Gondishapour declined and its books vanished. Only few books survived, because the scholars translated some of them into Arabic in order to save the contents.

AshurbanupalThe Royal Library of Ashurbanupal was in the great city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria (now Iraq). The library contained a huge amount of written works including cuneiform tablets.

Thousands of clay tablets were discovered in the late-19th century in the burnt ruins of Nineveh but nothing else survived. Babylonians (Persians) and Scythians (Iranians) burnt everything but incredibly the clay tablets were baked and so have survived

Nalanda Bihar IndiaNalanda was a great university for centuries (from 500BC). The library was reputed to contain all the knowledge (especially Buddhist and Hindu) of India generally written on processed palm leaves...like paper. In 1193 AD Muslims sacked the university and set the library alight.

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The CrusadersAs Islam advanced scholars translated many texts into Arabic to preserve the knowledge and protect them from destruction by religious fanatics.

The CrusadersAs Islam advanced scholars translated many texts into Arabic to preserve the knowledge and protect them from destruction by religious fanatics.

Ironically when the Crusaders arrived later they burned many libraries for being non-Christian and so many works that had been saved from Moslem fanatics were eventually destroyed by Christian fanatics.

Banu Ammar library TripoliIn 1109 the Crusaders captured Tripoli slaughtered the defeated Muslims and destroyed the Banu Ammar library which was apparently the finest Muslim library of all at the time. It is estiamted that 100,000 books were burned.

Banu Ammar library TripoliIn 1109 the Crusaders captured Tripoli slaughtered the defeated Muslims and destroyed the Banu Ammar library which was apparently the finest Muslim library of all at the time. It is estiamted that 100,000 books were burned.

When they took Constantinople in 1204 they destroyed the last surviving copies of classical works in Europe

The Greatest Destruction of Muslim Libraries (1218 – 1220)

In the 13th Century the Mongols did the most damage to the Muslim libraries as the Genghis Khan’s army destroyed everything in their path as they advanced toward Persia and Eastern borders of Europe

Public book-burning by a NazisGetty Image

Bebelplatz (Berlin)Bebelplatz on Unter den Linden was designed by Frederick the Great a great patron of the arts.

Bebelplatz (Berlin)Bebelplatz on Unter den Linden was designed by Frederick the Great a great patron of the arts.

It was the site of the notorious Nazi book burning event, organized by the minister for propaganda and public enlightenment Goebbels.

Bebelplatz (Berlin)Bebelplatz on Unter den Linden was designed by Frederick the Great a great patron of the arts.

It was the site of the notorious Nazi book burning event, organized by the minister for propaganda and public enlightenment Goebbels.

More than 20,000 books written by Jews, Communists and others, including Marx, Freud, Mann, and Heine, were burned

Bebelplatz (Berlin)Bebelplatz on Unter den Linden was designed by Frederick the Great a great patron of the arts.

It was the site of the notorious Nazi book burning event, organized by the minister for propaganda and public enlightenment Goebbels.

More than 20,000 books written by Jews, Communists and others, including Marx, Freud, Mann, and Heine, were burned

The monument is a plastic transparent window set into the ground