My conclusion from the above: No-one is blameless in creating the current situation.

My opinion after reading the above: It still doesn't really make for a justification of destroying world heritage (it wasn't all plaster casts). I'm not sure that saying abusers were abused as children makes them any less abusers.

I also think we should protect and cherish what little remains from the distant past, because there's no guarantee someone with a bloody big bulldozer won't flatten some or all of it one day. I'm not sure whether that view makes me a PC chickenshit or not though.